This 2022 election will be partly driven by the Supreme Court’s decision, ending the right to abortion upheld for decades
Information source by Nina Totenberg, and Sarah McCammon, from NPR
In a historic and far-reaching cruel decision, the Republican majority U.S. Supreme Court officially reversed Roe v. Wade, declaring that women no longer control their own bodies with the constitutional right to abortion, that they had for nearly a half of a century, because it no longer exists.
Defying past decisions, Justice Samuel Alito, wrote for the court majority, saying that the 1973 Roe ruling was basically not his choice or his Republican counter parts on the current court today and so he dismisses the subsequent high court decisions for Roe in the past, saying it “must be overruled” because he thinks it’s “egregiously wrong,” and also stating the decision was “exceptionally weak” and so “damaging” by his opinion “an abuse of judicial authority.” Oddly, that is exactly what the U.S. Supreme Court is doing in this case, by overturning Roe.
Alito’s 78-page opinion, which has a 30-page appendix, seemingly leaves no authority uncited as support for the proposition that there is no inherent right to privacy or personal autonomy in various provisions of the Constitution — and similarly, no evidence that peoples’ reliance on the court’s abortion precedents over the past half century should matter.
Alito pointed for instance, to Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the 1992 decision that upheld the central holding of Roe and was written by Justices Sandra Day O’Connor, Anthony Kennedy and David Souter, all Republican appointees to the court. Alito pointed to language in the Casey opinion that he said “conceded” reliance interests were not really implicated because contraception could prevent almost all unplanned pregnancies.
In fact, that 1992 opinion went on to dismiss that very argument as “unrealistic,” because it “refuse[s] to face the fact” that for decades “people have organized intimate relationships and made choices … in reliance on the availability of abortion in the event that contraception should fail.” Not exactly the sly concession that Alito described. Alito in his insulting arguments, cherry picked quotes out of context and not from former colleagues who are still alive and privately, not amused at all. Alito’s opinion has a larger objective, perhaps multiple objectives to inflict his own personal views on the American public.
Ultimately, this cruel decision against Roe, allows states to be completely free to ban abortions for any reason. We are seeing this decision, which was already known in early May, is rolling back to darker times, in nearly half of the states immediately, with more restrictions coming every day against abortion rights. For all practical purposes, abortion will not be available in large swaths of backward moving states in this country. The decision has meant that the corrupted court itself, as well as the abortion question, will become a focal point in the upcoming November elections this fall and thereafter.
Newly activated state laws are already causing havoc
Some states acted quickly to ban abortion. South Dakota, Kentucky, and Louisiana have laws in place that lawmakers designed that took effect immediately upon the Roe precedent. Idaho, Tennessee, and Texas – where most abortions are already illegal after about six weeks of pregnancy – have similar laws, which have taken. According to a new analysis by the Guttmacher Institute, seven other states have laws that state officials such as governors or attorneys general will take action to implement, them because of the SCOTUS decision.
Our lives changed this year
In June 2022, the devastating decision that will probably reverberating for generations, revealing that the U.S. Supreme Court has abandoned its duty to protect fundamental rights by overturning Roe v. Wade, ruling there is no constitutional right to abortion. The ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization abandons nearly 50 years of precedent and marks the first time in history that the Supreme Court has taken away a fundamental right. This will force people to travel hundreds and thousands of miles to access abortion care or to carry pregnancies against their will, a grave violation of their human rights. Hopefully it will also have a positive effect on them to vote for their rights this Fall. Roe, roe, roe your vote, the finish line is coming soon.
