And There Goes Roe — Charger Press

Jun 10

Jun 10 And There Goes Roe

Jarrett Borkowski

This is a submitted letter to the editor from a member of the Hamilton student body.

It is finally happening. An increase in right wing judges in the U.S. Supreme Court, a flame lit underneath the Republican base by former President Donald Trump, and a decades-long argument about abortion access has finally reached a climax.

Later this year, the Supreme Court is set to hear and deliver a decision on the case, Dubbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. This case is the best chance conservatives have had in years to flip the landmark decision of Roe v. Wade, which, in 1973, declared abortion as constitutionally protected right, and has many people across the country waiting to see the outcome of the upcoming challenge.

However, in a stunning breach of SCOTUS security, a majority decision draft by Justice Samuel Alito was leaked to and first reported by the news agency Politico on May 2, 2022. The 98 page opinion is of great length and discusses how a majority of Justices on the Supreme Court agree that the ruling in Roe v. Wade and the challenge to that ruling in Planned Parenthood v. Casey protected abortion rights across the nation. Their issue with this is that the U.S. Constitution does not guarantee healthcare to individuals and that they see the states as the ones with the power to regulate healthcare, not the federal government. With the ruling of Roe and Planned Parenthood, the federal government forced this protection on to all U.S. states, including the 30 states that already had total bans on abortions at the time.

Many critics have already emerged with this ruling, with the U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders even coming out requesting a waiver of the filibuster in the Senate in order to pass a law to protect reproductive rights. However, this would almost certainly fail as the Senate is split 50-50 across party lines and the chances of Joe Manchin or Kyrsten Sinema voting yes to this is unlikely, killing any bill then and there. Others have already gathered at the Supreme Court building to protest the leaked decision where reports of clashes between denouncers of the ruling and supporters of it have taken place.

Since the original ruling of Roe v. Wade took place in 1973, tensions have been rising slowly between the self proclaimed Pro-Choice and Pro-Life sides of the argument. Pro-Choicers see abortion as a human right and believe that women should have control over everything they do with their bodies. Pro-Lifers see an unborn fetus as a life that, when terminated during pregnancy, is equal to killing a baby. For years, compromise attempts have been made, such as imposing bans after a certain amount of weeks into the pregnancy, yet it seems that Pro-Choice people think the bans are always too harsh, while Pro-Lifers consistently see the ban as too late in the pregnancy.

These tensions have exploded in recent years with the election of Donald Trump. President Trump was a large vocal critic of abortion on his campaign trail. His charismatic way of speaking, along with his ability to rally support, led to a jump in public support against abortion. Since 2017, the Trump administration has also been able to appoint three Justices to the Supreme Court, shifting the court from a 5-4 Conservative majority to a 6-3 Conservative majority. This greatly increased the chances of a challenge to Roe v. Wade to be ruled in favor of Republicans.

It must be clarified that this decision hasn’t taken place yet. However, whenever the decision is made in the looming case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, many states have laws in place that will take action as soon as the Supreme Court strikes down Roe v. Wade. Thirteen states have new laws in place to go off directly or soon after the ruling (Texas, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri, and Kentucky). Five states have bans that were ruled unconstitutional after the 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade was never removed, meaning they would come into effect with an overturned decision (Wisconsin, Arizona, Michigan, West Virginia, and Alabama). It is all but guaranteed that other conservative leaning states would likely make efforts to put some form of restriction on abortion in the months following this overturn.

Many Pro-Choice advocates claim that it will not diminish abortions, just cut off women in certain states from access to safe abortion practices. Before Roe v. Wade, many women would undergo “DIY abortions” illegally. Many of these were extremely invasive and dangerous procedures that didn’t have proper equipment and technique. Some experts predict a 20% rise in pregnancy deaths would also occur. This is because many women go through a pregnancy and reach a point where they would not survive childbirth. At that point, aborting the fetus is the only option to guarantee a mother’s survival. Taking this away would greatly increase the chances of a complicated childbirth.

Though conservatives have been pushing for this change for decades, reaching this goal will likely not stop any tension, and will likely increase it. Liberals will continue to strive to make it legal in all states, while conservatives try to achieve the opposite. While it may seem we are about to see a turnaround, we seem to just be reaching a boiling point in the ongoing discussion surrounding reproductive rights.

Works Cited

Buncombe, Andrew. “Supporters of Roe v Wade denounce leaked SCOTUS ruling that would overturn right to an abortion.” The Independent, The Independent, 3 May 2022, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/roe-wade-scotus-overturned-b2070216.html. Accessed 4 May 2022.

Burke, Lauren. “Tears and tension as protesters swarm outside US supreme court.” The Guardian, 4 May 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/may/03/roe-v-wade-protests-outside-us-supreme-court. Accessed 4 May 2022.

Cheney, Kyle. “Roberts investigation could make the Supreme Court very uncomfortable.” Politico, Politico, 4 May 2022, https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/04/supreme-court-leak-probe-faces-slew-of-obstacles-and-unknowns-00029841. Accessed 4 May 2022.

Gerstein, Josh, et al. “Exclusive: Supreme Court has voted to overturn abortion rights, draft opinion shows.” Politico, 3 May 2022, https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/02/supreme-court-abortion-draft-opinion-00029473. Accessed 4 May 2022.

Johnston, Taylor. “Where Abortion Could Be Banned Without Roe v. Wade.” The New York Times, 3 May 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/us/abortion-bans-restrictons-roe-v-wade.html. Accessed 4 May 2022.

Weise, Elizabeth. “After Roe? Abortion ban could bring spike in pregnancy-related deaths.” USA Today, 4 May 2022, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2022/05/04/roe-abortion-ban-pregnancy-deaths/9630025002/. Accessed 4 May 2022.