The conservative majority on the Supreme Court is planning to strike down Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling guaranteeing the constitutional right to an abortion, according to a draft majority opinion obtained by Politico and published on Monday, May 2.
The draft, which Politico reported was written by Justice Samuel Alito and was first circulated in February, says that Roe was “egregiously wrong from the start.”
Supreme Court draft decisions are closely guarded, and legal journalists and experts appeared shocked that the document was leaked. The Supreme Court is set to rule on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a case involving a Mississippi law that bans abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, in early summer. As Politico notes, “Justices can and sometimes do change their votes as draft opinions circulate and major decisions can be subject to multiple drafts and vote-trading, sometimes until just days before a decision is unveiled.”
But Alito’s four fellow conservatives on the court, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett, are widely expected to vote to overturn abortions.
Abortion rights advocates condemned the news, but were quick to point out that abortion remains a constitutionally protected right and that no final decision has yet been issued by the court.
“It’s outrageous, it’s unprecedented, but it is not final,” Planned Parenthood wrote in a tweet. “Abortion is your right—and it is STILL LEGAL.”
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Local and grassroots abortion funds are also working to provide funding and support to people seeking abortion care in states where the procedure is banned or access is under threat.
This post originally ran on Teen Vogue.
