The US Supreme Court may be poised to end the constitutional right to an abortion – a right that American women have enjoyed for nearly 50 years.
A draft of a Supreme Court majority opinion, authored by Justice Samuel Alito and obtained by Politico, indicates that the court may soon decide to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark abortion ruling from 1973. If Roe is reversed, individual states would gain authority over abortion policies.
The final opinion has yet to be released; therefore votes and language can still change before the formal announcements. However, if Roe is indeed overturned, it could dramatically reshape the landscape of women’s reproductive health in the United States.
The news impacted the political sphere significantly when Politico published the draft on Monday evening, prompting supporters of legal abortion rights to gather at the Supreme Court building to voice their opposition. This incident marked an unprecedented breach of secrecy at the notoriously confidential high court. Chief Justice John Roberts termed the leak an “egregious breach” and initiated an investigation into its source.
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