The Supreme Court, in a decision released on June 24, ruled 6-3 to uphold a Mississippi law that would ban abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The court further overturned the 1973 precedent set in Roe v. Wade that guaranteed the constitutional right to an abortion.
The primary impact of the ruling will be that the states will now have the right to set the terms for abortions in their state and, according to the majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito, return the regulation of abortion to the people and their elected representatives.
Justice Alito, was joined by Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett, who supported the decision. The court’s three liberals, Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan, disagreed with the majority opinion.
According to CBS News, 16 states plus the District of Columbia have laws that protect the right to abortion. Two other states have ruled that the state constitution establishes that right. Those states are concentrated on the East and West coasts.
Thirteen states have “trigger” laws that would quickly ban nearly all abortions. Four more states have pre-Roe bans that would again be in effect. Three other states have laws on the books that will ban abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.
According to the June 27 issue of Colorado Politics, “Colorado's law, the Reproductive Health Equity Act, recognizes a fundamental right to continue a pregnancy and give birth, or to have an abortion. Fertilized eggs, embryos and fetuses do not have independent rights under the law, and it prohibits state and local public entities from denying or restricting a person's right to use or refuse contraception, or to either continue a pregnancy or have an abortion.”
Kansas and Montana, who currently have abortion rights enshrined in their constitutions, could see abortion rollbacks. In Kansas through a ballot measure and in Montana on a legal challenge. In at least eight states abortion is neither explicitly protected or prohibited by state law. A 1931 state law in Michigan bans nearly all abortions but its enforcement was suspended temporarily by a May court decision.
An NPR/PBS NewsHour Marist survey found that the majority of Americans were not in favor of overturning Roe v. Wade. There were 941 respondents to the poll with a +/- accuracy of just under 5%.
In the poll 56% (517) said they were not in favor of overturning Roe v. Wade while 44% (414) supported the Supreme Court Ruling. Nearly 90% of Democrats opposed the ruling, with just over three-quarters of Republicans supporting it. Independents opposed the decision by a 53%-41% margin.
In contrast, the Catholic World Herald published results of a poll two days before the January 22nd (2022) anniversary of Roe v. Wade which indicated that 60% of Americans supported the abolished of Roe v. Wade.
Fifty-five percent of those respondents called themselves pro-choice but only 17% said that “abortion should be available to a woman any time she wants one during the entire pregnancy”. In other words, in this poll 83% of the Americans polled said they wanted some limits on abortion.
A key point when comparing both polls is this: BOTH polls were Marist polls, they were conducted by the same organization!
Another thing to ponder is that the Supreme Court ruling returned the power to the states. That return will make it important to check individual state laws in regard to abortion. We are all familiar with checking things out in other states (even cities) during the recent ‘pandemic’.
The final thought is this. The Supreme Court ruling did nothing to clear up definitions. Is abortion infanticide, or protection of a women’s right to do with her body what she wants? Or is it somewhere in between? When does life begin? The ruling was only the beginning. Much will be decided – state, by state, by state.