politicnewsbusterinsiderpostreview: Roe v. Wade is about to be overturned

Tuesday, 3 May 2022

Roe v. Wade is about to be overturned

May 3, 2022

It wasn't any easier just because we knew it was coming.

Last night, Politico published a full draft opinion, written by Samuel Alito, that showed that the Supreme Court is planning to overturn Roe v. Wade. Today, the court issued a statement confirming the document's authenticity, but said it wasn't final. Chief Justice John Roberts said that he'd directed the marshal of the court to investigate the source of the leak.

The draft may not be complete, but barring a drastic development, it seems likely to resemble the court's ultimate ruling. As law professor Mary Ziegler wrote in the Atlantic today, "this draft reads like the work of a conservative majority driven by an absolute conviction that Roe v. Wade is egregiously, historically wrong—comparable to support for racial segregation." My colleague Becca Andrews has reported the gist for months: With these appointments to the Supreme Court, Roe was going to end.

This ruling will reshape American life. For women in many states, this will be the end to their already tenuous ability to get care. Trigger laws in states are ready to go into effect to outlaw abortion when Roe ends. The other nightmare scenario, which seems increasingly likely, is that the pro-life movement will move to the next stage of its agenda: fetal personhood, which would outlaw abortion even in blue states that attempt to protect the procedure. Justice Clarence Thomas seemed to suggest that he supported fetal personhood in oral arguments for the case that now seems certain to overturn Roe. A nationwide ban has been discussed in Republican circles.

I'll end with an important reminder from Becca: "As of this moment, abortion is still legal in the United States, period. If you are a patient seeking care, you can still get it."

—Noah Y. Kim