Hayden Dietz ~ News Editor
In an initial draft written by Justice Samuel Alito which was prematurely leaked to the media, stated that the supreme court had decided to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. The previous decision determined that it was unconstitutional to deny women access to abortion. Based on an interpretation of the 14th amendment that saw abortion as something women had an access to under the ground of privacy. The decision was somewhat changed in the 1992 Planned Parenthood vs. Casey decision, which granted states more power to restrict abortion.
Alito wrote that the Roe v. Wade decision was “egregiously wrong from the start.” “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the peoples elected represenatives.”
However, the court’s holding is not final until at least two months. No decision in modern history has been exposed to the public before the supreme court has decided it, and this move has been criticized for possibly affecting the neutrality of the court’s decision. Roberts wrote that the exposure of the decision would not affect the decision however.
The decision was exactly down to party lines in regard to who appointed the Justice, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett had voted with Alito. All of these were appointed by Republicans. The three Democratic appointed justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, all voted together against the decision.
This is concerning for the neutrality of the court. In the past, decisions were not so partisan. The supreme court made an active effort to appear apolitical.
Conservatives generally argues that there is no right to an abortion in the constitution and this is a clear overstep of federal power, and abortion is murder, while liberals generally argued that there should never be restrictions on abortion and it is a womans right to choose.
Students Matthew Fields said that he was generally neutral on the abortion issue.
Another student, Ashley Scioscia, argued that the government should not restrict access to women’s healthcare.
