The Consequences of Roe v. Wade
Table Of Contents
On May 2nd, 2022, 8:32 PM, a draft of the Supreme Court ruling on Jackson Women's Health Organization v. Dobbs was leaked on Politico's website. The initial draft of the SCOTUS ruling, scheduled to be released in late June, was 98 pages long and authored by Justice Samuel Alito[A1] [A2]. It detailed the reasons five of the nine justices on the newly conservative Supreme Court decided to go against half a century of precedent and overturn Roe v. Wade, which had guided the legal pathways surrounding not only abortion but served as the legal support of rights not directly stated in the constitution, which was, in the case of Roe, the right to privacy.
The Implications
The right to privacy was first established in 1965, when the Supreme Court ruled that married couples had the right to purchase contraceptives in Griswold v. Connecticut, citing the legal reasoning that although the right to privacy was not explicitly written into the constitution by the founding fathers, it was implied by multiple amendments which can be interpreted as protecting certain aspects of privacy. For example, the 14th Amendment, which was one of the amendments cited in the Griswold v. Connecticut decision, protected private property against unreasonable searches. Therefore, the more general right to privacy can be derived from numerous amendments in the Constitution.
When Roe v. Wade was overturned, the legal reasoning that supported it and several other landmark Supreme Court rulings was jeopardized. Not only was the right to abortion rendered legally vulnerable, but also the right to contraceptives, the right to same-sex intimacy, and the right to marriage equality. While the draft authored by Alito that was initially leaked stated the Supreme Court would refrain from overturning Griswold v. Connecticut, Obergefell v. Hodges (which established the right to marriage for same-sex couples), and other rulings based on the right to privacy, when the finalized majority opinion was released, Justice Thomas stated that those rights were "were demonstrably erroneous decisions", and declared his intent to strike down most of the rulings resting on the right to privacy, excluding the right to interracial marriage. Therefore, the downfall of Roe potentially means the turning back of the clock, not only for women's right to choose but also for the LGBTQ community and other vulnerable groups.
The United States' regression is unique among global powers. While the U.S. is curtailing abortion rights, in many other parts of the world abortion access is expanding. In Mexico, less than a year before the Dobbs decision was leaked, the Mexican Supreme Court voted unanimously to decriminalize abortion, opening the door for the expansion of abortion rights in the majority Catholic country which has historically been hostile towards the pro-choice cause. In Ireland, when Savita Halappanavar's death was caused by the denial of an abortion during a miscarriage, an explosion of outrage against dangerous abortion restrictions eventually led to the reversal of a ban which had been in place since 1861 and overturned a constitutional amendment.
Conclusion
The United States of America has always viewed itself as separate from the rest of the world. Isolationism has been at the core of its policies, influencing both domestic and foreign policies. However, while in many cases the U.S.'s separatist policies have had widespread public support, abortion restrictions are rejected by a large margin across the U.S. Kansas, a state which Donald Trump won by more than 20 percentage points, overwhelmingly voted to preserve abortion rights. Nationwide, 61% of Americans believe that abortion should remain legal. In the end, half a century of political manipulation courtesy of the anti- abortion movement may backfire, motivating women to mobilize and vote for their right to choose.
Sources
Gerstein,Josh, and Alexander Ward, Supreme Court has voted to overturn abortion rights, draft opinion shows, May 3, 2022, Politico, https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/02/supreme-court-abortion-draft-opinion- 00029473. Accessed on September 17, 2022.
Romo, Vanessa, Mexico's Supreme Court Has Voted To Decriminalize Abortion, National Pulic Radio, September 7, 2022, https://www.npr.org/2021/09/07/1034925270/mexico-abortion-decriminalized-supreme-court. Accessed on September 17, 2022.
Schonfeld, Zach, UK's Boris Johnson labels Supreme Court abortion decision a 'backward step', The Hill, 6/26/2022, https://thehill.com/policy/international/3537581-uks-boris-johnson-labels. Accessed on September 17, 2022.
U.S. Supreme Court, Dobbs full opinion, June 24, 2022, https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/19- 1392_6j37.pdf. Accessed on September 17, 2022.
Washington Post, Kansas 2020 live election results, December 4, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/election-results/kansas-2020/. Accessed on September 17, 2022. Wex definition team, Privacy, Institute of Legal Information, June 2022, https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/privacy. Accessed on September 17, 2022.