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Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, eliminating constitutional right to abortion

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout: Debate & Discussion' started by Reeko, Jun 24, 2022.

  1. Reeko

    Reeko Member

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    The Supreme Court ruled Friday that Americans no longer have a constitutional right to abortion, a watershed decision that overturned Roe v. Wade and erased reproductive rights in place for nearly five decades.

    In the court's most closely watched and controversial case in years, a majority of the justices held that the right to end a pregnancy was not found in the text of the Constitution nor the nation's history.

    Associate Justice Samuel Alito wrote the opinion for a 6-3 majority.

    The decision instantly shifts the focus of one of the nation's most divisive issues to state capitals: Republican lawmakers are set to ban abortion in about half the states while Democratic-led states are likely to reinforce protections for the procedure. Access to abortion, in other words, will depend almost entirely on where a person lives.

    Though not unexpected, the court's decision hit like a political and cultural earthquake, reshaping the relationship between millions of Americans and the government. While the opinion will be celebrated by conservatives, it will almost certainly lead to protests, new lawsuits and charges from the left that the nation's highest court – ostensibly above the partisan fray – is just as political as the other branches of the federal government.

    That's exactly what happened when a draft opinion in Mississippi's challenge to Roe leaked May 2. The unprecedented breach of Supreme Court protocol, which showed how the conservative justices might overturn Roe, led to protests across the country.

    Experts say the decision may set off challenges to other rights that, like abortion, have been grounded in the 14th Amendment's guarantee of due process. Many of those have been taken for granted for years, such as the right to same-sex marriage, the right to interracial marriage and the right to access contraception.

    The opinion follows a decades-long movement by conservatives to overturn the high court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which established a constitutional right to abortion. The effort to roll back that right was aided by President Donald Trump, who was elected in 2016 in part on a promise to name justices who would overturn Roe. Over the course of a single term, Trump managed to put three conservative justices on the high court.

    At issue in the case is a Mississippi law that bans most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy – earlier than had been permitted under the high court's previous decisions.

    Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the last abortion clinic in Mississippi, challenged the state law in 2018, asserting it conflicted with Roe and a subsequent case in 1992 that upheld Roe. A 7-2 majority in Roe v. Wade established a constitutional right to abortion and allowed people to exercise the right until the end of the second trimester.

    A subsequent decision in 1992, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, ended the trimester framework and allowed people to obtain an abortion until viability, the point when a fetus can survive outside the womb or about 24 weeks into a pregnancy.

    Two lower federal courts agreed with the clinic, citing Roe and Casey. Mississippi appealed, asking the Supreme Court not only to uphold its ban but also to do away with the constitutional right to abortion altogether. Because the issue is so divisive and personal, the state argued, it should be decided by state lawmakers accountable to voters rather than by federal courts whose jurists enjoy lifetime appointments.

    The frenzy around the case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, had almost as much to do with the justices who are on the high court as it does with the Mississippi law. Conservatives enjoy a 6-3 majority on the court for the first time since the Roosevelt administration. Three of them were nominated by Trump, Associate Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.

    Mississippi had explicitly asked the Supreme Court to overturn Roe, calling it "dangerously corrosive to our constitutional system." That is a more aggressive position than the state took when it first brought the case to the court in 2020.

    For years, the legal battle over abortion has focused on regulating the procedure, such as requirements that minors inform their parents before ending a pregnancy or requiring doctors performing the procedure to have privileges at nearby hospitals. For anti-abortion groups, the Dobbs case represented the first opportunity in decades to focus squarely on whether the procedure itself is constitutional.

    https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ion-mississippi-roe-wade-decision/9357361002/
     
  2. rocketsjudoka

    rocketsjudoka Contributing Member
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  3. rocketsjudoka

    rocketsjudoka Contributing Member
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    Not surprising. This was expected since March. What will matter now is how soon the trigger laws go into effect and how soon we will see someone prosecuted for providing an abortion.
     
  4. Reeko

    Reeko Member

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    gay marriage is likely next

    this country is going backwards via minority rule
     
  5. MojoMan

    MojoMan Member

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    Let's hope so.
     
  6. El_Conquistador

    El_Conquistador King of the D&D, The Legend, #1 Ranking
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    This is the right decision. Let the states decide -- and that way the will of the people is more closely matched up with local policy. The Federal government should have no hand in abortion whatsoever.

    I hope the Supreme Court is protecting these courageous Justices from the unhinged liberals. I actually fear for the lives of the conservative Justices -- liberals are wild and enraged and are liable to do extreme things in the coming days/weeks.
     
  7. Reeko

    Reeko Member

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    How pathetic does somebody have to be to actually care about who marries who?
     
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  8. Andre0087

    Andre0087 Member

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    Don't forget Loving v. Virginia...let's return bigotry back to the states!
     
  9. Ubiquitin

    Ubiquitin Contributing Member

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    Even better let the individual decide.
     
  10. MrBear1

    MrBear1 Contributing Member

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    You probably want slavery to return too, dont ya?
     
  11. J.R.

    J.R. Member

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  12. VooDooPope

    VooDooPope Love > Hate
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    time to pack the court, end life time appointments and Tax the church.
     
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  13. Andre0087

    Andre0087 Member

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    Uncle Thomas happier than a slave on emancipation day...he can't wait to start rolling back rights.
     
  14. Sweet Lou 4 2

    Sweet Lou 4 2 Contributing Member
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    The Republican Supreme Court: Let's make sure the state can dominate the liberals!
     
  15. Commodore

    Commodore Contributing Member

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  16. Sweet Lou 4 2

    Sweet Lou 4 2 Contributing Member
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    Nor should the State government which does not have the right to establish a religion and use that religion to control people's lives. This is not Iran. You can't criminalize people because they don't want to abide by Christian law.
     
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  17. MojoMan

    MojoMan Member

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    Now this will no longer be a national political issue, practically speaking. Instead, it will be a state political issue, fought out through the election of state legislators in each of the 50 states.
     
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  18. El_Conquistador

    El_Conquistador King of the D&D, The Legend, #1 Ranking
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    To extinguish a heartbeat and end a life? This is morally unconscionable.
     
  19. jchu14

    jchu14 Contributing Member

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    How... interesting... that Thomas didn't bring up Loving v. Virginia.
     
  20. HillBoy

    HillBoy Contributing Member

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    They're just upset because they wreen't able to attend the tiki torch parade...
     
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