‘A Dark Day for Our Nation’: Right-Wing Supreme Court Ends Constitutional Right to Abortion
Common Dreams – By Jake Johnson – June 24, 2022
“With this decision, the Supreme Court’s extreme right-wing supermajority has struck a tremendous blow to our fundamental freedoms.”
The right-wing majority of the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade on Friday, ending the constitutional right to abortion and imperiling access to reproductive healthcare nationwide.
The 6-3 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization was issued along ideological lines, with all three liberal justices in opposition.
“With sorrow—for this court, but more, for the many millions of American women who have today lost a fundamental constitutional protection—we dissent,” wrote Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and Stephen Breyer in their dissent.
The majority opinion was written by conservative Justice Samuel Alito, whose decision delivers a long-sought victory to the dark money-fueled movement that has been targeting Roe for decades.
More than half of all U.S. states are expected to respond to the decision by enacting total abortion bans, laws that will likely have deadly consequences. In anticipation of the high court’s ruling, Republican lawmakers in states across the nation have already introduced dozens of bills that would restrict or completely prohibit abortion.
In 13 states—Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming—Republican-controlled legislatures have put in place “trigger bans” designed to outlaw abortion once Roe is overturned.
“In the states where abortion has been or will soon be banned, any pregnancy loss past an early cutoff can now potentially be investigated as a crime,” the New Yorker’s Jia Tolentino wrote Friday. “Search histories, browsing histories, text messages, location data, payment data, information from period-tracking apps—prosecutors can examine all of it if they believe that the loss of a pregnancy may have been deliberate.”
At the national level, top anti-abortion organizations and their Republican allies in Congress are currently plotting their push for a federal abortion ban. Last month, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) signaled openness to legislation barring abortion care at the federal level.
“With this decision, the Supreme Court’s extreme right-wing super majority has struck a tremendous blow to our fundamental freedoms,” said Christina Harvey, executive director of Stand Up America. “It is undeniable proof of how broken our nation’s highest court has become.”
“Our court has been overtaken by out-of-control political appointees with an extreme right-wing agenda,” Harvey added. “If we don’t do something to stop them, they will continue to attack our most basic rights, until we no longer recognize the country we live in.”
Nelini Stamp, director of strategy and partnerships at the Working Families Party, said the ruling marks “a dark day for our nation.”
“A right-wing Supreme Court has stripped women and people seeking abortions of their long-held rights to control their bodies,” said Stamp. “This radical decision is out of step with the values and beliefs of the American people, and will cause lasting harm for millions of people.”
PS This is shameful power & control over Women.
Posted by Teri Perticone
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