A leaked draft of the Supreme Court’s intentions to roll back federal abortion rights in the United States is circulating online and is exploding in the media. This document has been confirmed as authentic. If the Supreme Court follows this opinion it would leave abortion rights up to individual states to determine. It is important to note that as of today, abortion is still legal in all fifty states. An estimated 23 states would ban abortion if the Supreme Court overturns its prior 1973 ruling which federally legalized abortion, also known as Roe vs. Wade.
Here is a historical rundown of Roe vs Wade:
1970: “Jane Roe” sued the district attorney of Dallas County, Texas, Henry Wade for the right to have an abortion. Roe’s lawyer, Sarah Catherine Ragle Weddington, won the case.
1973: The Supreme Court ruled state restrictions on abortion access before twelve weeks of pregnancy were unconstitutional. Individual states can and do make laws regulating abortion up to twelve weeks of pregnancy. And many states try to make laws that regulate sooner than that, but so far these efforts have been blocked.
1992: Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania sued Governor Robert P. Casey to block a Pennsylvania law that made accessing early-term abortions time-consuming and complicated. The Supreme Court decided that any state laws that put “undue burden” on access are unconstitutional. This ruling gets applied to many state abortion limitation laws to block them from going into effect, like just recently in Idaho.
Thirteen states have trigger laws. If Roe vs. Wade is overturned, these states have laws that will immediately ban all abortions. Nine other states have laws that will immediately limit abortion access to 6 or 8 weeks. California is not one of these States.
Here are some books to help you understand the facts of Roe Vs. Wade.
Here's a collection of books on The Supreme Court Roe v. Wade decision in 1973 and potential modern day impacts if it were to be overturned.
