The leaked draft of a Supreme Court opinion by Associate Justice Samuel Alito overturning Roe v. Wade (1973) and Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992) has sent shock waves throughout America, with pro-choice and pro-life advocates scrambling to figure out what happens next if the right to an abortion is withdrawn at the federal level. "Roe was egregiously wrong from the start," wrote Alito in February. "We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled."
While there's no question whether the document is authentic (Chief Justice John Roberts says it is), many questions remain. First and foremost among them: Does the draft, written up in response to Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, a case challenging Mississippi's ban on abortions after 15 weeks, represent the current thinking of the Court's majority? We won't know for sure until a ruling is released sometime before the end of June.
