The news, although potential, is already having the effect of a bomb in Washington. According to the newspaper Politico, the Supreme Court of the United States is preparing to overturn the historic 1973 judgment in which it recognized the right to abortion. In an article published on its website on Tuesday, the newspaper said it had obtained the preliminary draft of a majority decision written by conservative judge Samuel Alito and dated February 10.
Roe v. Wade, who nearly half a century ago argued that the US Constitution protected women’s right to abortion, was “completely unfounded from the start”, according to this 98-page text which can be the subject of negotiations until June 30. “We believe that Roe v. Wade must be overturned,” wrote Samuel Alito in the document, called “Court Opinion” and published on Politico.
A “scandalous” but “not final” preliminary draft
“Abortion is a deep moral issue,” he said. “The Constitution does not prohibit the citizens of each state from regulating or prohibiting abortion,” he said. “The inescapable conclusion is that the right to abortion is not deeply rooted in the history and traditions of the Nation,” he added.
According to him, it “is not protected by any provision of the Constitution”. If this conclusion is accepted by the High Court, the United States will return to the situation in force before 1973 when each state was free to prohibit or authorize abortions. Half of the states, especially in the conservative and religious South and center, should quickly ban the procedure on their soil.
“Let’s be clear: this is a preliminary draft. It is outrageous, unprecedented but not final: abortion remains your right and is still legal,” tweeted the organization Planned Parenthoodwhich operates many clinics performing abortions.
” In a state of shock “
Nearly 200 abortion rights advocates met spontaneously in the evening in front of the white marble temple that houses the Supreme Court in Washington. In the crowd chanting “my body, my choice,” Abby Korb, a 23-year-old student, said she was “literally in shock.” For her, “making abortions illegal is not going to end them, it will just make them more dangerous”.
The Supreme Court has been profoundly overhauled by former Republican President Donald Trump who, in five years, brought in three magistrates, solidifying his conservative majority. Since September, this new Court has sent several favorable signals to opponents of abortion.
She initially refused to prevent the entry into force of a Texas law which limits the right to an abortion to the first six weeks of pregnancy against two trimesters under the current legal framework. During the December review of a Mississippi law, which also questioned the legal deadline for an abortion, a majority of its magistrates made it clear that they were ready to nibble or even simply overturn Roe v. Wade. The document presented by Politico relates to this file.
Its publication constitutes an extremely rare leak for the Supreme Court, where the secrecy of the deliberations has almost never been violated. Asked by AFP, the Supreme Court declined to comment. The political class also reacted strongly to the Politico article: several elected Democrats felt that it confirmed “the urgency” of enshrining the right to abortion in law. A proposal to that effect passed the House of Representatives but is bogged down in the Senate due to fierce Republican opposition.