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Last night, Politico dropped a bombshell on American politics, obtaining an early draft of a U.S. Supreme Court opinion in the pending abortion rights case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
In its story, Politico noted the rarity of getting an early look at the court’s thinking: “No draft decision in the modern history of the court has been disclosed publicly while a case was still pending.”
The upshot: A majority of the court, based on preliminary responses to the pending case, is ready to overturn Roe v. Wade, which for nearly 50 years has made abortions legal under federal law, according to the draft written by Justice Samuel Alito that Politico obtained.
“Roe was egregiously wrong from the start,” Alito writes.
This morning, echoing the fury of supporters of reproductive choice across the country, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) lashed out at the court’s apparent position.
“This is a five-alarm fire,” Wyden said in a statement. “If this is the final decision, the United States will be one of a handful of countries in the world moving backwards on women’s rights. The overturning of Roe would mark a devastating loss of constitutionally guaranteed bodily autonomy and privacy for more than half of America.
“Let me be clear: Abortion is health care. Ending this protected and established right—a right generations of women have now known and that the overwhelming majority of Americans support—would harm the health, safety, and lives of millions of women and families. This is going to be the fight of our lives, and we must use every tool at our disposal to stop this attack on constitutionally guaranteed rights.”
