The Supreme Court has voted to strike down Roe v. Wade, the landmark ruling that legalized abortion in the U.S., according to a leaked draft majority opinion.

Mediaite reported that Politico obtained the draft written by Justice Samuel Alito. Also referring to Planned Parenthood v. Casey, Alito wrote that "Roe and Casey must be overruled." He said: "Roe was egregiously wrong from the start."

Alito added that it was "time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people's elected representatives."

It was unclear if the legal draft represents the court's final decision on the matter. NPR reported that the draft was labeled as "1st Draft" of the "Opinion of the Court" in a case challenging the ban on abortion after 15 weeks in Mississippi.

The case is known as Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. Alito is a member of the court's 6-3 conservative majority and was appointed by former President George W. Bush.

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Supreme Court's Opinion on Roe v. Wade

Justice Samuel Alito said in the legal draft that Roe's reasoning was "exceptionally weak," adding that the decision has had damaging consequences, The Guardian reported.

Alito noted that Roe and Casey have caused a debate and "deepened division." Other Republican-appointed justices that voted with Alito were Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett.

After an initial vote among the justices, one is assigned the majority opinion and writes a draft. The draft is then passed around among the justices.

A Supreme Court ruling can only be final once the court has published it.

In an emailed statement to Washington Post, Supreme Court public information officer Patricia McCabe said that "the Court has no comment."

Neal Katyal, a former acting solicitor general who was a law clerk to Justice Stephen G. Breyer, said the draft opinion appears legitimate and suggests that there was a preliminary vote after oral argument in favor of fully striking down Roe.

According to Politico, it received the draft opinion's copy "from a person familiar with the court's proceedings in the Mississippi case along with other details supporting the authenticity of the document."

If adopted, the decision would reportedly rule in favor of Mississippi in a case about that state's attempt to ban most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

Roe v. Wade

The Roe v. Wade case started in 1970 when "Jane Roe," an alias used to protect the plaintiff's identity, Norma McCorvey, instituted federal action against Henry Wade.

According to Britannica, Wade was the district attorney of Dallas County, Texas, where Roe resided.

The Supreme Court disagreed with Roe's claims of an absolute right to terminate a pregnancy in any way and at any time. In January 1973, the high court ruled that unduly restrictive state regulation of abortion was unconstitutional. 

In May last year, the Supreme Court has agreed to review in its October 2021 term a lower court's decision to strike down the 2018 Mississippi state law that banned most abortions after the 15th week of pregnancy.

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This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

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