He’s protested abortions outside Mississippi’s sole clinic for years. Now he might retire.
NBC
The Facts
SCOTUS has provisionally voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, a landmark 1973 ruling that legalized abortion nationwide in America, according to a draft opinion from the court obtained by Politico.
According to Politico, J. Samuel Alito drafted and circulated the initial majority opinion in Feb. after justices heard oral arguments and voted on the case in Dec. Four other Republican-appointed justices – Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett – reportedly voted with Alito.
The Spin
Progressive narrative
If Roe v Wade were to be overturned, at least 26 states hostile to abortion are expected to outlaw it or immediately place restrictive barriers on the procedure. Not only would this be an unprecedented affront to reproductive rights and the rights of women, the move would spark a range of dire consequences for other human rights.
Conservative narrative
As the justices pointed out, the Constitution makes no mention of abortion and it should be up to states to decide. This unprecedented leak of a draft decision while a case is still pending is clearly an effort to intimidate SCOTUS into changing its decision and should be investigated to the fullest extent of the law.
