Background:

  When the case of Roe v. Wade initially hit the Supreme Court, 30 of the 50 US states had banned abortion at all stages. Jane Roe was a Texas resident in 1970. She wanted to have an abortion, but Texas law made it a felony to have an abortion unless on medical basis to save the life of the mother. Roe filed against Henry Wade, who was the district attorney of Dallas County, Texas.

  Roe was filing on the grounds that the Texas abortion law violated the “14th Amendment’s mandate of equal protection of the laws and the guarantee of personal liberty and the right to privacy implicitly guaranteed in the First, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth, and 14th Amendments,” according to Landmark Cases of the Supreme Court.

  Wade was fighting back on the basis that the right to life of the unborn child is superior to the right of privacy of the mother. The district court ruled in the end that the Texas abortion law was unconstitutional, and the case was then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

  The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Roe, seven votes against two. Justice Blackmun wrote the majority opinion, stating that a woman’s choice whether to have an abortion is protected by her right to privacy.

  “The majority determined that a woman’s right to decide whether to have an abortion involved the question of whether the Constitution protected a right to privacy. The justices answered this question by asserting that the 14th Amendment, which prohibits states from ‘depriv[ing] any person of … liberty without due process of law,’ protected a fundamental right to privacy,” according to Landmark Cases of the Supreme Court.

  In 1992, during the case of Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the court re-visited Roe v. Wade. They eventually ruled stare decisis, which at its core, states that prior decisions made by the court will be upheld in most cases. 

  In near months, if this draft ruling is published and made final, abortion rights would no longer be protected at the federal level. This would push the decision back to individual states, and allow each state to either restrict, ban, or legalize abortion.

  This is the first time in history that a draft opinion has been released to the public. Being a drafted opinion, the final ruling could still change, but that is extremely unlikely.

The initial draft opinion is below.

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21835435-scotus-initial-draft

Megan’s Side: Protect Women’s Rights

  The leaked draft opinion by the Supreme Court has sparked controversy all over the country. Many women are outraged everywhere because of the laws that could potentially be put on their bodies.   

  Roe v. Wade protects bodily autonomy for women in America. It gives women the ability to make decisions about their own bodies. 

  This draft opinion to overturn Roe v. Wade was made on the basis that it is unconstitutional for the federal government to make this decision. Amendment 10 of the U.S. Constitution states that the federal government holds only the powers that are given by the Constitution. In this case, this power is given in the Constitution by the 14th Amendment.

  “The due process clause of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution protects the right of an individual to choose to terminate their pregnancy prior to viability,” stated by plannedparenthoodaction.org.

 Overturning Roe would push the power to decide what is legal and what isn’t to the states. If abortion is no longer protected at a federal level, many states (up to 26) will likely place extremely restrictive laws against abortion past a certain time frame. Guttmacher Institute provides a comprehensive list of which states would revert to Pre-Roe bans, or enact new bans. Michigan is one of the states that could return to extremely restrictive bans. In Texas, abortion would be illegal after just six weeks.

  Forcing people to travel to obtain an abortion makes the entire conversation a class issue. Certain people would not be able to afford to travel or take time off work to get an abortion. Therefore, abortion would only be accesible if you had the means to access it.

  Pushing the power to make these decisions for women back to the states is extremely dangerous. Many people agree that it doesn’t make sense for an unborn fetus to hold more rights in certain states than the person who is carrying the fetus. 

  “The Supreme Court based its decision in Roe v. Wade on decades of precedent about people’s right to make decisions about their private lives, and expanded it to include abortion rights,” again, according to plannedparenthoodaction.org.

  Roe v. Wade has been an extremely important Supreme Court case in this country for decades. Many people view revoking such a monumental case protecting bodily autonomy for women as going backwards. 

  One of the biggest arguments against overturning Roe v. Wade is that the right to bear arms, or the right to have guns, is protected by the Constitution. When a conversation about gun laws is brought up, one of the arguments against having stricter gun laws is that people would still find a way to get them. In 2020, there were 45,222 gun deaths in the United States according to US gun deaths (usafacts.org), yet guns are still legalized on a federal level. The right for women to make decisions about their own bodies would no longer be fully legalized if Roe is overturned. 

  Rape is a huge issue in this country. In these cases, an impregnated victim could be forced to carry the baby to term if they live in a state that restricts abortion and they didn’t have the means to travel to a place where abortion is legalized or take the time off of work to do so.

  Some people on the other side of this argument bring up the Declaration of Independence, which as most people know, guarantees the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. First of all, the liberty and freedom to make decisions for your own body is extremely important, which would be why freedom and liberty (defined as the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one’s way of life, behavior, or political views) is protected by this document. Revoking Roe v. Wade directly opposes the basis of liberty. Secondly, the right to life and the pursuit of happiness apply to the mother that is carrying the child too, something that seems to be forgotten when people are saying Roe should be revoked. Keeping abortion legalized on a federal level is of utmost importance.

  There are extreme dangers that could present themselves if this power is pushed back to the states. Again, the due process clause of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution protects the right of an individual to choose to terminate their pregnancy prior to viability; Therefore, Roe v. Wade should not be overturned due to the dangers of pushing this power back to the states, the right of liberty guaranteed by the Declaration of Independence, and the right to privacy guaranteed in the 14th Amendment.

Garrett’s Side: Overturn Roe V. Wade 

  There has been much talk recently about Roe v. Wade, and now there has been a leak that the ruling is to possibly be overturned. This has caused much uproar all over the country, but could this be a good thing?

  Many believe that this is about political, moral, or religious reasons, which is not fully true. The supporters of pro-life have these ideals, but they are not the reason for the bill’s trial. The reason this case has been brought up again is that the Constitution does not seem to give the Supreme Court the right to make this decision. It instead says that the decision must be made by the citizens of each state. Out of all 27 amendments made to the Constitution, only two stand out the most for this case: Amendment 9 and 10 (White House Constitution). Amendment 9 states, in summary, our federal government does not own the rights that are not listed in the Constitution. Thus, those rights go to state governments and the citizens. Amendment 10 states a similar situation stating our federal government is only granted the powers that are given by the Constitution. 

  Not a single amendment in the Constitution states anything related to abortion or the Supreme Court having the legal right to make it legal or illegal. If the bill is overturned, it would be up to the state governments to make their own decisions about the topic; It is not making abortions illegal on a federal level.

  The second reason this bill is in review right now is due to possible political opinions that could have impacted the upholding of federal law. The Supreme Court is in place to uphold federal law and protect the fundamental rights of the free world. In no way should any political opposition or opinion impact this branch of government whether it be democrat, republican, or nonpartisan. Commonly, republicans tend to be against legal abortions and democrats tend to be fore legal abortions. When it comes to any political topic, usually republicans and democrats butt heads on the ultimate decision. This divide should not be involved within the Supreme Court. The biggest reason to protect and prevent political opinions from being involved is Checks and Balances. This system is used in the United States government to prevent any department from having any more power over the other. Now, this was not used to stop political opinions from being involved in the government at first, but it has become more important than ever to stop them from interfering now. Since during the founding of the country political parties were not involved as much as they are now with all parties having different ideals on a majority of topics. 

  The court decision also contradicts the 2004 Unborn Victims of Violence Act. This bill was passed on March 25, 2004 and was signed into law by President Bush on April 1, 2004. This law states that any injury given to a pregnant woman or the embryo/fetus is punishable by federal law. Roe v. Wade contradicts this since abortion is the termination of a pregnancy. Since these both are total opposites of each other, one must be considered unconstitutional. 

  Law enforcement is a national department throught the Department of Justice and abortion is not a national department. Abortion should be left for the states to decide, since the bill has more rule on the Supreme Court rather than Roe v. Wade. The Supreme Court is there to uphold the laws therefore it has to uphold what has been passed by the presidents throughout history.

Another contradiction with Roe v. Wade is the Declaration of Independence which the Supreme Court must uphold as well. This document grants the people of the United States with unalienable rights which are the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Now I am not going to get into the morals of Roe v. Wade, but it does collide with this document. The Supreme Court again must decide in favor of the constitutional documents that make this country. It is yet another reason why the federal government does not have the power to decide on Roe v. Wade and should be given to the states. Amendment fourteen of the Constitution of the United States of America, enforces the rights to life, liberty, and property. Due process of this amendment only states that citizens have the right to privacy not abortion since they are two different words.