A political storm has unravelled following the leak of a draft ruling which specified that the US Supreme Court plan on overturning the landmark Roe v Wade ruling which has crucially provided American women with constitutional abortion rights since its judgement in 1973.

What is Roe v Wade?

Roe v Wade is one of the most important legal judgements in American history which protects women’s liberty to choose to have an abortion without express government constraint. The decision had the effect of abolishing many restrictive state abortion laws’ which consequently made it a controversial ruling due to the differing opinions on the regulation of abortion amongst states. What is undisputable however is that Roe v Wade has become a legal tenet of modern American society which confers fundamental abortion rights to pregnant woman.

Why is Roe v Wade under threat?

On Monday a draft Supreme Court opinion was leaked to Politico which demonstrates the courts intention to rule in favour of Mississippi in a case which concerns the criminalisation of abortion after 15 weeks of gestation, thus directly challenging the abortion rights granted by Roe v Wade.

The leak provides a comprehensive account of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade. Some extracts from the decision provide that “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start” and that it “must be overruled” to “heed the constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives”.

This judgement was allegedly that of Justice Samuel Alito, but considering that draft decision has been written up, this implies that the ruling had already been voted on by the Court and passed by a majority.

The effect of this Supreme Court judgement would leave it up to the Courts of each individual state to autonomously decide their own abortion laws. If the decision comes to fruition, it seems highly likely that many of the more conservative states of the South and Midwest would respond immediately by imposing highly restrictive abortion laws.

What has been the response to the leak?

The leak has sent shockwaves across US politics. The immediate aftermath of the leak saw hundreds of reproductive-rights activists staging protests outside the Supreme Court, chanting slogans such as “my body, my choice” in opposition to the proposed ruling. Many high-profile Democrats have also responded with outrage at the leak, with House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi stating that overturning Roe would be “an abomination, one of the worst and most damaging decisions in modern history”. President Joe Biden has also come out in opposition to the projected verdict, by calling on the Supreme Court to come to their senses and uphold the decision in Roe v Wade, before adding, “I believe that a woman’s right to choose is fundamental”.

On the other side of the political aisle, Republican senators have demanded for an investigation to be launched to determine who was responsible for the leak, describing it as a “unprecedented breach of confidentiality”. Republication Senator Rubio has suggested that the leak was intended to intimidate the Supreme Court justices into changing their decision with Senator Hawley tweeting, “The Justices mustn’t give in to this attempt to corrupt the process. Stay strong”.

Notwithstanding the staggering consequences this decision could have for woman’s rights across the US, it must be acknowledged that the leak detailed a draft decision, and it will remain just that until the Supreme Court make their formal ruling. It therefore remains possible that a change in the votes of the Supreme Court could still occur which could result in a different decision being reached. All that can be done now is wait in anticipation of the Supreme Court’s judgement to see whether America will retain their ruling from Roe v Wade or proceed to narrow pregnant woman’s abortion rights.

Oliver Watt

Roe v Wade under threat?