Roe vs Wade shouldn’t be overturned

THE EDITOR, Madam:

I wish to write this letter about a leaked draft opinion of the justices of the US Supreme Court, in the case of Roe vs Wade.

On May 3, Supreme Court Chief Justice, John Roberts, confirmed the authenticity of a leaked draft opinion. He also noted that the draft ruling does not represent the court’s final decision.

After Roberts confirmed the authenticity of the draft, Vice-President Kamala Harris said it is “clear” that “opponents” of Roe want to punish women and take away their rights to make decisions about their own bodies. She added that “Republican legislators in states across the country are weaponising the use of the law against women.”

The 98-page draft opinion was penned by Justice Samuel Alito, and he wrote in the draft published by Politico.

His draft would toss out the precedent set by Roe vs Wade and reaffirmed in 1992 by Planned Parenthood vs Casey. Those pivotal rulings protect the right to get an abortion before the point of foetal viability and require that legislations’ abortion access do not pose “undue burden”.

The draft of the court opinion in Dobbs vs Jackson Women’s Health Organization would side with the state of Mississippi in defence of a law that would ban almost all abortions after 25 weeks. With the 6-3 conservative majority ruling, this made it the most significant threat.

I believe the final ruling of Roe vs Wade will be profound abortion policy in the absence of Roe. This would leave the legality of abortion to individual states. A reversal of Roe could establish a legal path for states’ pre-1973 abortion bans, as well as enforced post-1973 bans, to take effect.

Many state lawmakers continue to consider and enact abortion bans that would fly in the face of constitutional standards and Roe’s precedent in anticipation of an eventual lawsuit on such a ban coming before a Supreme Court, which is hostile to abortion rights.

According to Guttmacher Institute “if Roe v. Wade were overturned or fundamentally weakened, 22 states have laws or constitutional amendments already in place that would make them certain to attempt to ban abortion as quickly as possible. An additional four states have political composition, history and other indicators — such as recent actions to limit access to abortion — that show they are likely to ban abortion as soon as possible without federal protections.”

I believe limiting the legality of Roe vs Wade is allegedly to ensure that white Americans will always constitute the majority of US citizens and will always control the “power”.

CARGILL KELLY