Dems, GOP clash over leaked Supreme Court abortion rights draft decision

The court in a news release said that it will launch an investigation of how the draft was leaked to the news outlet Politico. It added that the document - authored by conservative Justice Samuel Alito - does not represent "the final position of any member" of the high court.

Legal experts reacted to news of the leak with surprise.

“For the 20th, the 21st Century, it is unprecedented. For the 20th century, it's unprecedented,” said Georgia State University, College of Law, Professor of Law, Eric Segall.

The abortion ruling, due by the end of June, would be the court's biggest since former President Donald Trump succeeded in naming three conservative justices to the court - Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.

Based on Alito's opinion, the court would find that the Roe v. Wade decision that allowed abortions performed before a fetus would be viable outside the womb - between 24 and 28 weeks of pregnancy - was wrongly decided because the Constitution makes no specific mention of abortion rights.

“The mood and tenor of the draft opinion suggest they're on their road to finding that a fetus has constitutionally protected rights, which would stop blue states or Congress from ever protecting abortion rights,” Segall said. “That's something that some progressives have been cautioning about for a very long time. I never thought that was going to happen, at least in the next ten years or so. Now, I am not at all sure.”

 

"This says you can't you can't rely on having a federal right that says our federal Constitution protects me and gives me as part of my do as a citizen, the right to decide whether or not to have another child, and the consequence is that every state will have to decide whether they want to criminalize abortion or not,” said Carol Sanger, Professor of Law at Columbia Law School.

Abortion is one of the most divisive issues in U.S. politics and has been for nearly a half-century. A 2021 Pew Research Center poll found that 59% of U.S. adults believed it should be legal in all or most cases, while 39% thought it should be illegal in most or all cases.

In the absence of federal action, states have passed a raft of abortion-related laws. Republican-led states have moved swiftly, with new restrictions passed this year in six states. Three Democratic-led states this year have passed measures intended to protect abortion rights.

U.S. President Joe Biden said he had been told that a leaked decision was a "real draft," and warned that a whole range of rights was at stake.

Biden told reporters the rationale in the leaked document was concerning but said he was not prepared now to make a judgment on whether the filibuster should be overturned to codify Roe v. Wade.

"If this decision holds, it's quite a radical decision," he said before leaving for a visit to Alabama. "It goes far beyond the concern of whether or not there is a right to choose. It goes to other basic rights."

 

Vice President Kamala Harris said that the potential Supreme Court decision represents an attack on women and lashed out at Republicans for "weaponizing" the issue, offering a first glimpse of how the White House might use the battle for abortion rights to energize voters in the upcoming midterm elections.

"If the court overturns Roe v. Wade, it will be a direct assault on freedom," Harris, a Democrat, told attendees at a gala hosted by Emily's List, an organization which works to get abortion-rights Democrats elected to office.

The Harris speech was planned before the leak of the ruling but has taken on added meaning.

Harris is a natural choice for the Biden administration to raise the issue on the midterm campaign trail if the Supreme Court adopts a version of the draft opinion and throws away five decades of federal protection of abortion rights.

Republicans are expected to take control of the House of Representatives and perhaps the Senate after the midterm elections in November, but Democrats are now seeking to use the abortion issue to energize voters. Democrats now hold a narrow majority in both chambers.

Nearly two-thirds of Americans said they are more likely to back candidates who support the right to abortion in the November midterm elections, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted on Tuesday.

The vice president has long championed women’s health, particularly related to abortion rights.

On Tuesday she said the last 24 hours have made it clear where Democrats and Republicans stand.

"Some Republican leaders are trying to weaponize the use of the law against women. How dare they. How dare they tell a woman what she can and cannot do with her own body. How dare they try to stop her from determining her future. How dare they try to deny women their rights and their freedoms," Harris said.

In Washington, hundreds of abortion rights activists gathered outside the Supreme Court building.

Supporters of abortion rights chanted "off our bodies" and "abortion is healthcare."

Some moderate Republicans were also dismayed but social conservatives were delighted even as they voiced anger that the opinion was leaked.

Chanting "Pro-life is a lie. Babies never choose to die" and beating drums, opponents of abortion rights outnumbered advocates.

Democrats at the state and federal level and abortion rights activists looked for some way to head off the sweeping social change long sought by Republicans and religious conservatives.

Washington state politicians and dozens of demonstrators gathered at Kerry Park in Seattle to express their opposition to a leaked draft decision.

"Washington state is a pro-choice state and we're going to fight like hell to keep Washington a pro-choice state. That's why we're here today," said Washington state Governor Jay Inslee.

"This radical majority of the Supreme Court has no respect for precedent, has no respect for women, and the freedoms that now two generations of people have grown up believing are settled law," said U.S. congresswoman Pramila Jayapal. "Let's be clear that we cannot trust the Supreme Court on any decision we thought was settled."

"This draft opinion, as outrageous and extreme it is, does not outlaw abortion and thanks to our voter-approved initiative here in Washington state, abortion is still legal here," said Attorney General Bob Ferguson at the rally.

More than a hundred New Yorkers came out to protest. The rally, held in Lower Manhattan, was joined by similar demonstrations nationwide in Seattle, Washington DC and other sites.

In New York, they chanted, "We won't go back," and, "My body my choice."

"We are here today, to show resistance, to tell the world that we can't do business as usual while this country, this government, more and more every day fascist, tells us that they can be inside our body," said Viva Ruiz, an Ecuadorian American who lives in New York.

"They are not looking out for the best interest of women around the world," New York resident, Wendy Frank said. "They can go and shove it."

Mass rallies were planned by abortion-rights advocates in cities across the country on Tuesday, including Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia.

Senate Democrats will put forward a bill that will codify abortion rights into law this week, with a vote taking place next week, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said at a weekly press conference on Tuesday.

The announcement comes after a leaked draft decision showed a majority of the country's top court would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade, the legal precedent ensuring abortion access for Americans.

"If the report is accurate, the decision would be an abomination, an abomination - one of the worst ever in modern history," Schumer told reporters on the steps of the U.S. Capitol.

Following the leak of the draft U.S. Supreme Court decision to strike down Roe v. Wade abortion protections, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday called for an investigation of the leak.

"I hope that the leaker, who is extremely likely to be found, given the limited number of people who can access early drafts of opinions, will be dealt with as severely as the law may allow," McConnell said.