Supreme Court poised to overturn Roe v. Wade

Supreme Court poised to overturn Roe v. Wade

 

In a stunning breach of Supreme Court confidentiality and secrecy, Politico has obtained what it calls a draft of a majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito that would strike down Roe v. Wade.   The draft was circulated in early February, according to Politico. The final opinion has not been released and votes and language can change before opinions are formally released. The opinion in this case is not expected to be published until late June.   According to the draft, the court would overturn Roe v. Wade's holding of a federal constitutional right to an abortion. The opinion would be the most consequential abortion decision in decades and transform the landscape of women's reproductive health in America.   Many Republican-led state legislatures have already moved to limit abortion access and others are poised to enforce restrictive laws that have remained unenforced since Roe was passed. In total, an analysis by the Guttmacher Institute finds that 23 states have laws aiming to limit abortion access, including some states that have multiple provisions in place.   States including Michigan, Wisconsin and West Virginia had abortion restrictions before the Roe ruling that have never been removed. Others have approved near-total bans or laws prohibiting abortion after a certain number of weeks -- but many of them have been blocked by courts, including those in Alabama, Georgia, Iowa, Ohio and South Carolina.   Legislators in 13 states have passed so-called "trigger laws," which are bans designed to go into effect if Roe is overturned. In some cases, the law requires an official such as an attorney general to certify that Roe has been struck down before the law can take effect.   These are the states with "trigger laws" poised to go into effect almost immediately if Roe v. Wade is overturned.