WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the authenticity of a draft ruling, released the day before by the Politico news site, saying the U.S. top court may reverse the ruling. Roe vs Wade, key case law from 1973 that legalized abortion.
This announcement had the effect of a bomb across the country, while the issue of the right to abortion is one of the most sensitive and divisive in American politics for nearly half a century.
Joe Biden has promised to work to protect the right to abortion, describing it as “fundamental”.
The Democratic tenant of the White House has urged voters to choose candidates who support the right during the midterms next November, so that Congress can pass national legislation on the issue.
While several states have adopted more restrictive abortion laws, supported by elected Republicans, Joe Biden said he asked White House representatives to prepare options to respond to all scenarios.
“We will be ready when a judgment is rendered,” he said in a statement.
The Supreme Court announced the opening of an investigation to determine how its draft decision “leaked”, the court boasting of always keeping its deliberations secret.
In a press release, the court said the document, signed by conservative judge Samuel Alito, does not “represent the final position” of its judges.
A Democratic bill intended to protect access to abortion in the United States remained without action this year in Congress, where the Democrats have a narrow majority. A qualified majority is necessary to adopt such a text in the Senate.
For the most part, Democrats support abortion rights, and Republicans overwhelmingly oppose it.
ROE VS WADE, “A MISTAKE FROM THE BEGINNING”
Abortion-rights activists gathered overnight Monday through Tuesday outside the Supreme Court building to protest the proposed ruling, calling on Democrats to “do something.”
“If this information is correct, the Court is on the verge of inflicting the greatest restriction of rights in fifty years, not just on women but on all Americans,” said Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer in a joint statement released before the document’s authenticity was confirmed.
A 2021 poll by the Pew Research Center found that 59% of adult Americans support legal abortion in all or most cases, while 39% believe the procedure should be illegal in all or most cases. most cases.
Samuel Alito wrote in the preliminary opinion, dated Feb. 10 and a copy of which Politico released on Monday, that the Roe vs. Wade ruling was “absolutely wrong from the start.”
This historic decision, authorizing abortions as long as the fetus is not viable – between 24 and 28 weeks of pregnancy – was wrongly adopted because the US Constitution does not specifically mention the right to abortion, added the judge conservative.
“Abortion raises a deep moral question. The Constitution does not prohibit the citizens of each state from regulating or prohibiting abortion,” said Samuel Alito in the document.
According to the site Politico, four of the other conservative judges of the Supreme Court, composed of nine members, lined up behind the opinion of Samuel Alito.
It is not unusual for the votes of Supreme Court justices to move between the initial opinion and the final decision, which is published.
The move would be the court’s largest since former Republican President Donald Trump appointed three justices to the court, cementing a 6-3 conservative majority.
(Reporting Lawrence Hurley, Gabriella Borter, Moira Warburton, with Katharine Jackson, Jeff Mason, Kanishka Singh, Eric Beech and Andrea Shalal; French version Jean Terzian, Dagmarah Mackos and Laetitia Volga, editing by Kate Entringer, Jean-Michel Bélot and Tangi Salaün )