JUAN SALINAS II
senior editor
juan.salinas465@my.tccd.edu
Politico leaked a draft May 2 showing a potential ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Roe v. Wade protects a pregnant person’s right to choose an abortion without excessive government restrictions and has been the law for over 49 years.
Since this is not an official ruling, a person seeking an abortion may still do so, depending on the state’s guidelines. An official ruling is unlikely to happen until later this summer, according to multiple outlets.
“I imagine that the leaked draft was meant to cause public uproar and thus put pressure on the majority justices to adjust accordingly,” NE assistant government professor Leigh-Anne Regenold said. “While public opinion isn’t ignored by the court, it doesn’t have as much impact on this body as it does on elected officials who must pander for votes.”
Regenold said Politico’s reporting is highly irresponsible, and it takes way too long in the article to tell the reader nothing has been officially decided.
“Many media outlets tried to determine how the justices would rule in a case regarding the Affordable Care Act about 10 years ago,” she said. “They got it wrong even when they had the actual official opinion. Justices can make last-minute changes to how they will decide.”
This potential ruling will also cause 21 states‘ “trigger laws,” including Texas, to go into effect and would completely outlaw abortion.
NW student Sarah Whited is a member of the Christian Student Ministries. She said Roe v. Wade should be overturned, and there is no constitutional right to an abortion.
“These babies deserve the same individual ‘right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’ as the rest of us who happen to already be born,” she said. “I see no distinction between a human inside or outside of the womb.”
TR student Grace Kadia plans to organize a protest against the potential ruling.
“It is a very scary time to be a woman, as our reproductive and even medical health rights are being held in the hands of people generations before us who seem to be blurring the lines of church and law,” Kadia said. “I could even extend to say that the overturning of the case could be considered as a direct attack to women’s rights, ultimately setting us back 50 years.”
NW sociology professor Elizabeth Gabhart said this potential decision would not decrease the abortion rate but increase it. She said global data shows countries with the lowest abortion rates are countries in which abortion is legal and readily available.
“Middle class and richer people will be more likely to afford to travel to other countries to get safe abortion access, so poorer people will bear the brunt of unsafe abortions,” Gabhart said.
She said people against abortion should support freely available birth control and support programs that financially support pregnant people and children.
SE government professor Lisa Uhlir is pro-choice but conflicted. She has marched for this right with her daughter but thinks late-term abortion should be the point where a woman can’t have an abortion.
Uhlir said the public should respect the court’s potential decision, and it’s the Supreme Court’s job to interpret the law, even if it’s an unpopular opinion.
“This is coming from the perspective of someone who has exercised this right myself,” Uhlir said. “I have not had a day since where I didn’t wish it was a little less ‘easy,’ and that I had taken more time to make my decision. I regret it every day and I cannot take it back. The sorrow and loss sit on my heart always.”
