A crowd gathers outside the Supreme Court on Tuesday, a day after a draft opinion was leaked that indicates justices are prepared to overturn the Roe vs. Wade decision. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

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Roe vs. Wade to be overturned, a Supreme Court draft opinion suggests

A draft majority opinion written by Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was leaked to Politico on Monday, suggesting Roe vs. Wade will be overturned.
<a href="https://highschool.latimes.com/author/jennawilsonlevin/" target="_self">Jenna Wilson-Levin</a>

Jenna Wilson-Levin

May 6, 2022
A draft majority opinion written by Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was leaked Monday, according to Politico. The opinion states that “…Roe and Casey must be overturned.”

Referring to the 1973 Supreme Court case Roe vs. Wade assures the federal constitutional protection of abortion rights. Casey refers to Planned Parenthood vs. Casey, a 1992 decision that cemented the precedent set in Roe vs. Wade.

According to Politico, the draft was circulating early in February. The final opinion has yet to be announced, and votes and language may alter before the formal release of the opinions. It is not expected that the opinion on this matter would be released until late June.

The document’s legitimacy was confirmed by the Supreme Court on Tuesday. The court also made it clear that this was not the final decision.

The court would reject Roe vs. Wade‘s ruling that there is a federal constitutional right to abortion, according to the text. The decision would be the most significant abortion decision in decades, and it would change the landscape of women’s reproductive health in the United States. Five of the justices appear to be in favor of overturning Roe, according to NPR.

Alito controversially compared Roe vs. Wade to Plessy vs. Ferguson, a supreme court case that upheld the legality of racial segregation. He explained that Plessy vs. Ferguson was “egregiously wrong when decided” to support the overturning of a supreme court case that has been the law of the land for almost 50 years.

If this decision is made, abortion availability will be severely restricted in wide parts of the South and Midwest. According to data from NBC News analysis of Center for Reproductive Rights, 23 states would institute bans on abortion.

According to the New York Times, 13 states would ban abortion immediately or very quickly. The procedure could still be lawful in any state as it would be left up to the state to decide the its legality.

Abortion restrictions often lead to dangerous, unregulated, illegal abortions. Women may receive an abortion from someone who is not following proper safety standards and does not have a license. In this case, women may die while undergoing this usually safe and regulated procedure.

Abortion-related mortality reduced substantially as the availability of legally induced abortion increased. The number of abortion-related fatalities fell from over 40 per million live births in 1970 to eight per million live births in 1976, according to a 2018 report by the Guttmacher Institute.

This decision could have disastrous consequences for the safety and rights of women in the United States. Many are worried for the future for women in the United States and fearing the possibility of further birth control restrictions.

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