Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Abortion fight could be sent to states
If the U.S. Supreme Court follows through on overturning the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion nationwide, it would quickly split the country into states with abortion access and those that outlaw it.
Some states had already been preparing for the potential that the high court could weaken or overturn Roe. But the bombshell leak of the draft opinion appeared to accelerate that drive Tuesday, setting the country on course for an even more jumbled landscape of abortion rights and new battles over other reproductive rights, all before the court even issues a ruling.
The Supreme Court confirmed the leaked draft was an authentic document but said Tuesday “it does not represent a decision by the court or the final position of any member on the issues in the case.”
Almost immediately after Politico published the draft Monday night Republicans who had fostered a decades-long push to end abortion rights cheered the prospect. Democrats vowed to fight the possible loss of a constitutional right that has been in place for nearly a half-century.
In California, Democrats who wield control of the state Legislature and the governor’s office issued a joint statement late Monday announcing they would seek
to amend the state’s constitution to enshrine abortion rights.
“California will not stand idly by as women across America are stripped of their rights and the progress so many have fought for gets erased,” California Democrats said. “We know we can’t trust the Supreme Court to protect reproductive rights, so California will build a firewall around this right in our state constitution. Women will remain protected here.”
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, a Republican, said on Twitter she plans to immediately call a special legislative session “to save lives” if Roe is overturned. The state already has a so-called trigger law that would make abortion illegal if that happens and Noem’s office declined to say why a special session would be necessary. Her spokesman, Ian Fury, said the tweet, “speaks for itself.”
In Pennsylvania, Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf noted that abortion remains legal in the Commonwealth, and he vowed to “continue to veto any legislation that threatens access to abortion and women’s health care,” as he has done in the past when the Republicancontrolled Legislature has sent bills to his desk seeking to place more stringent restrictions on abortion access.
However, Wolf is termlimited and Pennsylvania voters will choose a new governor this November who may soon have to consider proposed changes to abortion law in the Commonwealth.
“Any decision to overturn Roe v. Wade is an assault on the right to access safe, legal abortion services,” Wolf said. “Let’s be clear: the issue is not whether we believe in choice, but rather who is going to make that choice. I believe that should be the person who is most closely involved in making this difficult decision — not lawmakers and judges. And I believe that’s a right that applies to every person across this country.
“This draft opinion, if or when it becomes final, is a stunning, seismic reversal and will set back women’s and birthing people’s health care by decades. I am extremely concerned for women and birthing people in Pennsylvania and across this country.
“Abortion bans lead to worse health outcomes for pregnant people and babies, increased rates of maternal mortality, and financial hardship that hurts families. The majority of Americans believe in the right to access abortion, and the implication that this right may be reversed is appalling. This is an attack on privacy, on bodily autonomy, and on the right to health care — but more than that, it’s an attack on our future.”
U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., decried the leak of the draft opinion.
“Leaking a premature Supreme Court opinion — regardless of subject matter — undermines the Court as an institution and erodes America’s trust in this pillar of our constitutional structure. While the motive behind this leak is unclear, I’m concerned it was released as a political ploy to pressure Justices to change their views when the rule of law — not public opinion — should determine the outcome and reasoning of a case.
“I would encourage each of the Supreme Court Justices to disregard the resulting explosion of heated rhetoric from both sides of the political spectrum as they conclude their evaluation of this case, and I hope, with the leadership of Chief Justice Roberts, that the perpetrator of this gross breach in Court procedure is held accountable.”
U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., expressed concern about the potential consequences of overturning Roe v. Wade.
“If this draft opinion becomes the final opinion of the Court, I have serious concerns about what overturning almost 50 years of legal precedent will mean for women in states passing near or total bans on abortion. Congress should be working to reduce the number of abortions and unintended pregnancies and doing much more to support women and families.”
About half of U.S. states are expected to ban abortion if Roe falls, according to the abortion-rights think tank Guttmacher Institute. Twenty-two states, largely in the South and Midwest, already have total or neartotal bans on the books. Aside from Texas, all are now blocked because of Roe.
Republican-led states have also been working to restrict access to medication abortion, which would allow women to get abortions without the burden of traveling to clinics that may be few and far between.
In addition to South Dakota, 12 other states have trigger laws that would immediately ban abortion if Roe is overturned and would presumably go into effect if the Supreme Court majority votes for the draft in late June or early July.
One is Oklahoma, where Republican House Speaker Charles McCall declared Tuesday that “decades of steadfast prayer and unwavering legislative efforts to protect the lives of the unborn are finally on the doorsteps of success.”
“For close to 50 years, the silent cries of the millions who lost their lives before even having a chance to live have been heard through the voices of those of us fighting for their rights,” McCall said. “The pro-life movement won, securing those yet unborn the future and promise that comes with being born in the United States of America.”
Mississippi would also automatically ban abortion and the owner of the state’s only clinic said she’d close if the draft opinion is adopted. “You put four people on the court who said they’re going to overturn Roe — that’s why they were put on. When you do that, I don’t know how you’re surprised when that’s going to happen,” Diane Derzis said.
A few states still have pre-Roe bans on the books, including Michigan, where Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has sued to remove it and pledged on Twitter Monday to “fight like hell to make sure abortion remains safe, legal, and accessible.”
The Kansas Supreme Court in 2019 declared that the state constitution protects abortion rights, but Republican lawmakers placed on the August primary ballot an initiative to overturn it.
In New Hampshire, Gov. Chris Sununu was a rare Republican governor who said he supports abortion rights and was committed to upholding Roe v. Wade. “So long as I am governor, these health care services for women will remain safe and legal,” Sununu said.
However, last year Sununu signed into law restrictions on abortion when he approved a measure banning abortion after 24 weeks of gestation, with exceptions only for pregnancies that threaten the mother’s life or health.
Polling shows relatively few Americans want to see Roe overturned. In 2020, AP VoteCast found that 69% of voters in the presidential election said the Supreme Court should leave the Roe v. Wade decision as is; just 29% said the court should overturn the decision. In general, AP-NORC polling finds a majority of the public favors abortion being legal in most or all cases.
At least eight GOP-led states have already passed new restrictions this year, expecting change from the conservative majority on the high court. Arizona and Florida banned the procedure after 15 weeks, without exceptions for rape or incest. Others, like Oklahoma, went further and made it a felony as of this summer to perform an abortion, with an exception only for the life of the mother.
Idaho followed Texas and allowed people to sue over abortions — including potential family members of the embryo.
Sixteen states and the District of Columbia, meanwhile, have protected access to abortion in state law, and several states moved to expand or strengthen those protections this year.
States like Washington and Connecticut, for example, have protected abortion providers in their states from lawsuits.
The Democratic leaders in Connecticut’s statehouse, which over the weekend sent legislation to that state’s governor that would protect abortion providers, said in a joint statement Monday night they had feared a proposed decision like the one in the draft opinion and “now this nightmare appears to be all too real.”
“America is likely headed down a dark path where individual states will adopt conflicting statutes leading to additional divisions in an already divided nation,” Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney and Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff said.
Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said her state would “welcome with open arms” those who need access to abortion.