In scathing, dismissive language, Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. wrote a draft opinion that does what for many decades seemed unimaginable — it overturns the 1973 ruling in Roe v. Wade and annihilates the constitutionally protected right of a woman to control her own body. If the leaked draft, which was written in February and confirmed as authentic by Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., becomes the court’s final decision, it will set reproductive freedom back generations. About half the states either have or will pass bans or will severely restrict abortion, with the burden falling on women who can’t afford to travel to an out-of-state abortion clinic.
Striking down Roe will undo a nearly 50-year precedent. Generally, the court overturns a decision in order to restore or grant rights. This would be the rare Supreme Court ruling that revokes a person’s fundamental rights.
Sadly, this was not a surprise. It seemed clear from the oral arguments in December in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization — the case involving Mississippi’s ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy — that the court’s conservative justices were looking for ways to uphold that ban and scale back abortion rights.
