It is almost official. The Supreme Court of the United States is set to overturn the abortion jurisdiction under Roe, Doe, and Casey, and the news has literally run rampant in the streets.
On May 2, a draft of the Supreme Court’s majority opinion on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization was leaked to Politico. Written by Justice Samuel Alito, the draft states, “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start. Its reasoning was exceptionally weak, and the decision has had damaging consequences.” Alito’s draft deems that the time is now “to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives. That is what the Constitution and rule of law demand.” This news, of course, did not evade the conversation on Grounds here at the University of Virginia.
UVA Today, a daily newsletter run by the University, published a set of questions posed to Miller Center of Public Affairs scholar Barbara Perry in light of the leaked opinion. While I am not a traditionally-trained legal scholar of the likes of Perry, my experience in the Pro-Life Movement and grassroots involvement in legal proceeding surrounding the topic of abortion has led me to disagree with many of the conclusions Perry has stated in the editorial.
Perry first comes to the conclusion that the leak does not represent “unprecedented polarization” of the Supreme Court but rather only reflects “cyclical polarization” due to inevitable exposure to politics. While I agree with Perry that the Court cannot be wholly apolitical in nature, this leak is an unprecedented event that compromises the integrity of the judiciary. Never has the authority of the judicial system been compromised to this degree. While there have been leaks from the Court in the past, this is the first leaked majority draft opinion. Many who support the leaked opinion predict the leak was an incitement for the U.S. Senate to end the filibuster and pass the Women’s Health Protection Act to create a right to abortion through legislative means. If this violation of the Supreme Court’s integrity can be allowed once, it will forever polarize the judiciary and create precedent for more leaked decisions in the future.
Later, Perry goes on to compare the aftermath of Dred Scott v. Sanford to the potential aftermath of overturning Roe. This comparison is rather inaccurate. In Dred, a civil war resulted from the continued violation of equal rights and citizenship of Black Americans— a just response to a national injustice. But in the case of Roe v. Wade, not overturning this decision would be the equivalent of upholding the Dred Scott decision. Perry states that the prospective invalidation of Roe will “prompt mass protests in American streets.” She then says these protests would be equivalent to protests that were organized after the 13th and 14th Amendments were enacted to abolish slavery and grant equal citizenship to those born in the United States.
Perry ends her thoughts on the leak by stating the Supreme Court’s “judgment… can be severely damaged by a decision with which a majority of Americans vehemently disagree and which affects their most basic life choices.” While this is one of the most controversial decisions in the history of the Court, a 2022 study by the Demetree Institute for Pro-Life Advancement showed that Roe v. Wade has much less support than pro-abortion media portrays, specifically when it informed surveyors the extent of what Roe accomplished— especially in conjunction with its sister case, Doe v. Bolton. In fact, 80% of the surveyed individuals wanted to vote on abortion policy at the state level, 75% wanted some form of limit on abortion, and more than 40% either wanted abortion banned or only permitted in cases of rape, incest, or to preserve the life of the mother. Most telling of the survey was the fact that a majority of the respondents either identified as Democrat or Independent.
Clearly, being educated on the extent to which Roe and Doe act is essential to public opinion surrounding the possible reversal of these decisions. Most people want to have a say in abortion policy, and the leaked decision on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization will do just that. While the goal of the Pro-Life Movement, of which I am a part of, is to make abortion illegal and unthinkable, overturning Roe does support the policy desires of the majority.
The opinions expressed within this piece represent the views of the author alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Jefferson Independent.
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