A draft decision suggests that the US Supreme Court will overturn Roe v. Wade represents a threats to rights.
It’s no secret that the Republican controlled US Supreme Court has been trying to undo decades of progress that was the result of hard work of those who support human rights for some time. Back in December, we highlighted the courts decision to reject the Department of Justice’s attempt to put a stop to the Texas Abortion ban law. By that point, the damage had already been done to the courts reputation. No longer is it a branch of the government that bases decision on the rule of law. Instead, the court has been corrupted and is primarily ideologically driven. The rule of law is but a mere suggestion to the courthouse rather than what guides decisions.
Today, however, further cemented this. A leaked draft of a decision suggests that the US Supreme Court is set to overturn Roe v Wade, a critical decision made in 1973 that (should have) put an end to the question of whether or not abortion access should be permitted in the country. It was a battle that pitted science and women’s rights against religion. Science, of course, won that fight. The decision helped ushered in an era where women’s rights are on more equal footing to men. The draft that was leaked to the media, however, suggests that this era might be coming to an end, thus continuing to further America’s backslide on human rights. From the CBC:
U.S. President Joe Biden said he will fight to preserve access to abortion services, while the chief justice of the Supreme Court ordered an investigation after an unprecedented leak suggested that the top court may overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion.
A leaked initial draft majority opinion suggests the court has voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, Politico reported late Monday.
“Roe was egregiously wrong from the start,” conservative Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the draft opinion, which is dated Feb. 10, according to Politico, which posted a copy.
Abortion is one of the most divisive issues in U.S. politics and has been for nearly a half century. The news broke a little more than six months before midterm elections that will determine if Democrats hold their razor-thin majorities in the U.S. Congress for the next two years of President Joe Biden’s term.
Biden called it a potentially “radical” decision in American jurisprudence, one that could have ramifications for other privacy rights involving contraception and gay rights.
“It goes far beyond, in my view, it goes far beyond the concern of whether there’s the right to choose,” he told reporters before departing for a visit to Alabama.
Biden’s suggestion that this would have knock-on consequences to other rights isn’t just theory. As we mentioned several times throughout this resurrected debate, the Texas Abortion ban law affects human rights and even digital rights as well. For instance, the law stipulates that anyone who either knowingly or unknowingly assisted an abortion could face fines as well. What’s more is that the law opens the floodgates, deputizing ordinary citizens and rewarding those who snitch on others with $10,000 bounties for anyone who reports an abortion. The risk here is that privacy could be eroded as a result of this.
What’s more is the fact that the law also says that anyone who posts medical advice or suggestions that could theoretically result in an abortion could also be the target of fines. So, we also see that free speech would also be significantly harmed because of the law.
A number of analysis suggests that this decision paves the way for any state to start chipping away at women’s rights by passing their own abortion ban bills as well. There’s no question that such a scenario would erode human rights of all kinds. The real question is how much damage is done along the way. The Texas Abortion ban law shows that the damage can be quite significant, going far beyond simply attacking the question of whether or not a woman has a right to choose.
The development should represent a major threat to rights of all kinds. At minimum, a portion of the human population is about to lose a heck of a lot of them which means everyone loses in the end.
In a side note to the story, the leak hasn’t gone unnoticed by authorities. A probe was initiated to trace the source of the leak in question. Many who support women’s rights in general have already branded the leaker as a hero.
At any rate, the word, while not a final one, is a warning signal that things only stand to get a heck of a lot worse in the US. It may not be entirely surprising at this point that the Supreme Court would do this, but it’s still unnerving to see the storm clouds roll in on human rights in the US.
Drew Wilson on Twitter: @icecube85 and Facebook.
