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Supreme Court Overturns Historic Roe v. Wade Ruling
STORY: For some, it’s an unthinkable injustice… for others, a moral victory overdue. In a landmark decision, the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling that legalized abortion nationwide. Its own legal precedent came as the result of a Republican-backed Mississippi case that not only sought to severely restrict abortions in the state but also targeted the legality of Roe v. Wade. It also came after an unprecedented leak in early May of an initial draft majority opinion published by Politico, showing that the court was ready to rule that there was no constitutional right to the proceedings. Kavanaugh. Despite the court’s strong conservative inclination, many pro-choice supporters had clung to the hope that Roe would remain intact — especially as it had survived several challenges over the years. In fact, they remained hopeful as they saw a parade of the most recently appointed conservative judges, all nominated by Republican President Donald Trump — who swore that Roe v. Wade would be undone — seem to view Roe as permanent law when voted by Democrats. are roasted during their hearings… In 2017, with Neil Gorsuch: “It is United States Supreme Court precedent. It was reconfirmed in Casey in 1992 and several other cases.” A year later, Brett Kavanaugh said, “One of the most important things to keep in mind about Roe v Wade is that it has been reconfirmed many times over the past 45 years. [FLASH] Most importantly, it has been reaffirmed in Planned Parenthood vs. Casey in 1992. “Finally, in 2020, Amy Coney Barrett: ‘I don’t have an agenda. I have no plans to overrule Casey. I have an agenda to abide by the rule of law and decide matters as they come.” Before Roe v. Wade, women carrying unwanted pregnancies often took matters into their own hands, says Karissa Haugeberg, assistant professor of history at Tulane University . “So that’s where women tried to fall down the stairs, or punch their stomachs, or you know, these kinds of methods.” The Roe v. Wade ruling of 1973 answered the call of many women’s rights activists—the decision that recognized that the right to personal privacy under the U.S. Constitution protects a woman’s ability to terminate her pregnancy. It also marked the beginning of a near Fifty-year struggles over abortion rights, with fervent protests taking place year after year in the nation’s capital. Some resorted to violence—killing abortion providers and bombing or burning clinics. But the judges in 1973 didn’t expect their ruling to become such a lightning rod in American politics, according to Daniel Williams, a history professor at the Univers In the late 1960s, early 1970s, before Roe v. Wade, there was no partisan disagreement about abortion. In fact, the anti-abortion movement, the pro-life movement, was mainly populated by Democrats, some of the most liberal Democrats in the country, including Ted Kennedy, at that point in his political career….” But in Roe’s wake, Republicans saw an opportunity to harness their passion for the issue to expand their voter base — especially among Roman Catholics and Evangelical Christians, who were not politically active — according to Jennifer Holland, an assistant professor American History at the University of Oklahoma. They realize that these are very useful voters. [FLASH] And that you could say the right things in an election cycle, and that you could get this very fiery — not a majority — but a significant and fiery minority to vote for you.” And Republicans weren’t the only ones digging in their heels.[Haugeberg]”It’s going to be a litmus test, like, to survive a primary challenge, to get a nomination, to make sure the party supports you, for both sides one has to – by the mid-1990s – have a pretty firm commitment to be either anti-abortion or pro-choice.” With Roe overthrown, some 26 states are expected to swiftly begin restricting access to abortion, according to the Guttmacher Institute, an abortion rights research group… allowing millions of women in the U.S. who want to terminate pregnancies to get ahead of the curve. be given the choice of having a potentially dangerous illegal abortion, traveling to another state where the procedure will remain legal and available, or purchasing abortion pills online. The procedure remains legal in a liberal sense — skewed states, more than a dozen of which have laws protecting abortion rights.