Historic Supreme Court decision ripples through America
BY: JACOB POLITTE
Managing Editor
The United States Supreme Court delivered an official and historic ruling today in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health. This ruling overturned the landmark case of Roe v. Wade in 1973, which made abortion and a woman’s right to choose legal nationwide.
With this ruling, laws concerning abortion rights are now exclusively in the hands of each state. At least 26 states are likely to completely ban abortion. Missouri was among those states and already had some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the entire country. The state had a “trigger law” in place, and now that the Roe decision is official, that law has gone into immediate effect; Governor Mike Parson issued an official proclamation (titled the “Right to Life of the Unborn Child Act”) earlier today outlawing elective abortions in the state. Short of a ballot initiative that could force a statewide vote on legalizing the procedure in the future, that is unlikely to change anytime soon.
The verdict
The Dobbs decision was penned by Justice Samuel Alito and upheld by four other conservative justices. Alito wrote in the decision, “The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision, including the one on which the defenders of Roe and Casey now chiefly rely — the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.”
He continued, “That provision has been held to guarantee some rights that are not mentioned in the Constitution, but any such right must be ‘deeply rooted in this Nation’s history and tradition’ and ‘implicit in the concept of ordered liberty. It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.”
Three liberal justices dissented. In a joint dissent penned by Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, they said “The majority has overruled Roe and Casey for one and only one reason: because it has always despised them, and now it has the votes to discard them. The majority thereby substitutes a rule by judges for the rule of law. The majority would allow States to ban abortion from conception onward because it does not think forced childbirth at all implicates a woman’s rights to equality and freedom.”
The Justices continued “Today’s Court, that is, does not think there is anything of constitutional significance attached to a woman’s control of her body and the path of her life. A State can force her to bring a pregnancy to term, even at the steepest personal and familial costs.”
Political responses
The decision was met with harsh criticism from many prominent political figures, including Senator Elizabeth Warren and President Joe Biden. In his remarks from the White House on Friday afternoon, Biden called the decision “a realization of an extreme ideology and a tragic error.”
Senator Warren also spoke to a crowd of people from outside the Massachusetts State House Building on Friday afternoon. In her fiery response to the verdict, she said “Roe is dead. Six extremists on the United States Supreme Court have decided that they can force all of America to bend to their personal, religious and moral views. Roe is dead, but the Supreme Court extremists do not get the last word. We are here because we will make Roe alive again.”
Another, more local response came from Missouri Representative Cori Bush. Bush, a Democrat who had been working to ensure abortion access during her time on Captiol Hill, broke into tears while learning of the decision at a Planned Parenthood clinic in St. Louis on Friday afternoon.
“49 years… 49 years and they strip it away,” Bush was caught saying by KMOV cameras.
During an MSNBC interview later in the day, her response was more angry. “To have this far-right extremist, racist, classist, bigoted Supreme Court strike down Roe v. Wade,” Bush said, “and for them to make the decision when the majority of the people of this country have said that they don’t want Roe v. Wade overturned for various reasons […] What we talk about: Is marriage equality next? Is interracial marriage next? What about birth control? All of those things are now – not only are they on the table, we know that this is, these are things we’ve been hearing about. And, we won’t lay down and take this.”
Bush later tweeted, “Abortion care IS health care. It was so before this. And it will remain so after this. We don’t care what a far-right extremist Supreme Court that is in a crisis of legitimacy says. Your racist, sexist, classist ruling won’t stop us from accessing the care we need.”
Many Republicans and conservatives are celebrating the decision. Senator Josh Hawley, whose wife helped write the legal brief on the Dobbs case, said during a call with reporters earlier today that “This rights a grave injustice the court visited on the nation. I’m ecstatic to see this wrong righted,” he said. “My guess this will be hugely energizing to Republican and conservative voters.”
Hawley later tweeted, “This is a momentous day in America, when the efforts of generations of modern-day abolitionists comes to fruition. One of the most unjust decisions in American history has been overturned.”
Also celebrating the decision is Representative Ann Wagner, who spoke on the ruling during a joint press conference with other House Republicans.
“I am so grateful and gratified that the Supreme Court has finally overturned Roe v. Wade,” she said. “This is a historic moment for families, for mothers and for the precious unborn children who cannot protect themselves. Today, we do give voice to the voiceless.”
Despite the outpouring of both criticism and celebration, the overturning of Roe v. Wade was expected after Alito’s draft opinion of the verdict was leaked early last month. The leak was the first such instance of that kind of event occurring in the court’s entire history. The source of that leak has still not yet been named.
For continuing coverage of the Roe decision in the coming days, including reactions from STLCC and Meramec faculty and staff, stay tuned to meramecmontage.com.
