How State Abortion Fights Could Get to The Supreme Court | Opinions | NowThis
159‘The stakes have changed.’ — Here’s how state abortion laws could get to the Supreme Court and threaten Roe v. Wade.
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The past few weeks, we’ve seen some of the most devastating blows to abortion rights around the U.S. But it is *nothing* compared to what *very well could happen -- the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade -- and denying women’s rights to safe and legal abortion across the country.
And that’s exactly what the politicians behind some of these aggressive laws are trying to do.
Unfortunately, nothing new. But under Trump’s presidency, and specifically since the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, the stakes have changed. Now these lawmakers, who have been quietly drafting and passing more than a thousand bills that slowlyyyy chip away at women’s rights...are going ALL IN. With the new, conservative Justices on the Supreme Court, politicians believe it’s a possibility to overturn the landmark Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade.
Roe (as it’s affectionately called) was a 1973 decision that protects a woman’s right to choose if she wants an abortion or not. Making it illegal for states to limit a woman’s access or interfere with her decision. And yet, we’re seeing that all over the place.
FIRST I want to be absolutely clear. None of the bills I’m about to mention are currently in effect. Some have passed, but they won’t kick in until later, and probably not even then, thanks to groups challenging their legitimacy. But we’ll get back to that.
You might have heard about Alabama, where the governor signed a near total abortion ban from the moment of conception. Or Georgia, where legislators passed a bill that could ban abortion as early as 6 weeks, before many women even know they’re pregnant. Neither have exceptions for rape or incest. And they come on the heels of 5 other states that have passed similar restrictions, plus a couple more in the works.
So how do these handful of bills in the South affect us up here in the North...or anywhere around the country?
It starts with a challenge from the ACLU, or other similar organizations.
Let’s use Ohio as an example -- Ohio passed one of those 6-week abortion bans in April, set to take effect in July. In Ohio, approximately 90% of abortions take place at or after 6 weeks, so it’s pretty much an outright ban. But just last week, the ACLU filed a lawsuit challenging it, calling the Ohio law “blatantly unconstitutional” under Roe v. Wade.
Now a federal district court judge has to take the case -- and will likely rule it unconstitutional under Roe, because Roe protects a woman’s right to have an abortion before the fetus is able to survive on its own. That’s usually around 24 weeks...not 6.
But the state still has the opportunity to appeal to a higher court. And if it loses that, then comes its opportunity to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its case. Remember -- the one that just added 2 conservative Justices under Trump.
#Abortion #RoeVWade #ReproductiveFreedom
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