The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled to overturn the 49-year-old Roe vs. Wade decision to legalize abortion throughout the U.S. It will uphold a Mississippi decision to ban the procedure after 15 weeks of pregnancy and leave the ultimate decision up to each state’s local government.
Justice Samuel Alito also overturned a decision made in the 1992 case, Planned Parenthood vs. Casey which ruled not to impose and ‘undue burden’ on women in need of an abortion.
“Abortion presents a profound moral question. The Constitution does not prohibit the citizens of each State from regulating or prohibiting abortion. Roe and Casey arrogated that authority. We now overrule those decisions and return that authority to the people and their elected representatives,” Alito wrote in a statement.
“Roe was egregiously wrong from the start. Its reasoning was exceptionally weak, and the decision has had damaging consequences. And far from bringing about a national settlement of the abortion issue, Roe and Casey have enflamed debate and deepened division,” he continued.
The decision was finalized more than eight weeks after Alito’s opinion was leaked to press causing outrage and protests across the country.
Chief Justice John Roberts concurred with Alito’s decision saying, “Ample evidence suggests that a 15-week ban provides sufficient time, absent rare circumstances, for a woman to ‘decide for herself’ whether to terminate her pregnancy”. He also criticized liberal justices who supported Roe vs. Wade for displaying, “a relentless freedom from doubt on the legal issue that I cannot share.”
Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who also joined in Alito’s opinion stated, “Because the Constitution is neutral on the issue of abortion, this Court also must be scrupulously neutral. The nine unelected Members of this court do not possess the constitutional authority to override the democratic process and to decree either a pro-life of pro-choice abortion policy for all 330 million people in the United States.
“Instead of adhering to the Constitution’s neutrality, the Court in Roe took side on the issue and unilaterally decreed that abortion was legal throughout the United States up to the point of viability (about 24 weeks of pregnancy). The court’s decision today properly returns the Court to a position of neutrality and restores the people’s authority to address the issue of abortion through the processes of democratic self-government established by the Constitution.”
Justice Clarence Thomas disagreed requesting that the court review decisions like Roe and Casey based on substantive due process which states rights not included in the constitution are protected by the 14th Amendment.
“Because any substantive due process decision is ‘demonstrably erroneous, we have a duty to ‘correct the error’ established in those precedents,” Johnson said.
Liberals shot back accusing the majority of threatening the balance struck by the Roe v. Wade decision.
“It says from the very moment of fertilization, a woman has no rights to speak of. A state can force her to bring a pregnancy to term, even at the steepest personal and familial costs.
“Whatever the exact scope of the coming (state) laws, one result of today’s decision is certain: the curtailment of women’s rights, and their status as free and equal citizens,” the liberal’s response stated.
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Recent polling has revealed that although a majority of Americans wanted Roe v. Wade to be upheld, the decision will allow 22 states to implement total or near total abortion restrictions.