A leaked initial draft of a U.S. Supreme Court opinion shows that the 1973 court ruling Roe v. Wade, which has long protected the constitutional right to an abortion, will be overturned, POLITICO reports.
The leaked draft, penned by conservative Justice Samuel Alito, shows that the highest court in the land (a judicial body comprised of six men and three women) has ruled in favor of the State of Mississippi’s Gestational Age Act, which prohibits an abortion within the state after 15 weeks of conception.
The law in question, while not nearly as restrictive as the Texas Heartbeat Act, imposes stringent regulations on abortion doctors. Specifically, the state law requires that doctors fill out a form specifying the exact date used and method of abortion, the gestational age of the fetus or embryo, and justification proving that the abortion was medically necessary “to preserve the life or physical health of the maternal patient.” If any doctor is found to be in violation of the act, they may face penalties, including a $500 fine for knowingly making any error in the reporting process, and will have their medical license revoked by the state for performing an abortion on a fetus after 15 weeks.
Unlike the aforementioned Texas law, the Gestational Age Act does not create any penalties for the maternal parent, or anyone else involved in the process of delivering an abortion. However, further legislation could be enacted to create retribution against them as well.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, 23 states have laws that could go into effect banning abortion if Roe v. Wade is overturned, and at least three more are likely to enact bans on abortion in the near future, bringing the total number of states in the country where abortion would be banned to more than half of the states in the Union.
According to Planned Parenthood, only 19 states and the District of Columbia have freely accessible abortions, whereas the remaining states all have at least some restrictions in place.
Oregon is one of those 19 states, and many prominent state elected officials have vowed to protect Oregonians’ right to an abortion, including outgoing Gov. Kate Brown. Idaho, Oregon’s neighbor to the east, is not. Idaho has passed legislation that that would ban abortion and that would become fully legal if Roe v. Wade is overturned.
It is because of this that many Oregonians still would see a negative impact from the overturning of Roe v. Wade. According to NPR, the state has had to pour millions of dollars into expanding abortion services to accommodate Idaho residents who cross over to receive the medical procedure. That will mean millions of tax dollars, which could be used in other areas or simply returned to the people of Oregon, that would need to be diverted in order to brace for the influx of patients crossing over the Snake River to Oregon abortion clinics.
As the Oregon Capital Chronicle predicts, the Supreme Court ruling would almost certainly take precedence in the upcoming state elections. The Supreme Court ruling could be considered bad timing politically, as this year is a midterm election.
Abortion has long been a hotly debated issue, and is one that finds roughly 59% of Americans, including 89% of Democrats, in the camp that supports access to legal abortions, according to a study that the Pew Research Center conducted last year. In addition, 35% of Republicans also support access to legal abortion. With that in mind, it is highly likely that the Democratic Party would capitalize off of the major blow to abortion rights to mobilize support from voters in the moderate-to-liberal range to send legislators to Congress who would codify protections for abortion into law.
What would our country, our state and our community look like under the expected Supreme Court landmark ruling? It is hard to tell for sure, but one can certainly predict that it will have a drastic impact on not just our political landscape, but also where our tax dollars are being spent. It could also change how we view other states, as the laws in Republican-controlled areas become increasingly divergent from those in Democrat-held localities, and vice-versa.
