50 years of legislation threatened - U.S. Supreme Court set to overturn Roe v. Wade

In an unprecedented leak first reported by Politico on Monday, it seems that the US Supreme Court plans to vote to overturn the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision that saw abortion legalized throughout the United States.

Per Politico, not only is the draft opinion looking to wipe out Roe vs. Wade but also the case of Planned Parenthood vs. Casey from 1992, which maintained the right to abortion.

Leaks from the conservative-majority Supreme Court are almost unheard of, and the news shocked the nation. The topic of abortion has been perhaps the most divisive issue in US politics over the past fifty years.

At the moment, other media outlets such as CNN or Reuters have not been able to confirm the authenticity of the draft obtained by Politico.

Media outlets have reached out to both the Supreme Court and the White House, and both have declined to comment. However, Politico asserts that they have confirmed the authenticity.

In the leaked draft opinion dated February 10, Justice Samuel Alito (pictured) wrote, "Roe was egregiously wrong from the start."

The document titled as "Opinion of the Court" continues, "We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled. It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people's elected representatives."

According to Politico, four other Republican-appointed justices voted in agreement with Alito in the conference held among the justices: Clarence Thomas, Neil M. Gorsuch, Brett M. Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett.

It appears that Alito believes that decision on Roe vs. Wade was wrong because there is no specific mention of abortion rights in the US Constitution.

Per the leaked document, Alito said, "Abortion presents a profound moral question. The Constitution does not prohibit the citizens of each state from regulating or prohibiting Abortion."

Roe vs. Wade ruled that women had the liberty to choose to abort before the fetus was viable outside the womb (between 24 and 28 weeks of pregnancy).

Pictured: Norma Mc Corvey (L), known as "Jane Roe" of the 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion, accompanied by her attorney, Gloria Allred.

As alarming as this document is for the threat it represents to women's reproductive rights throughout the United States, Politico points out that
"deliberations on controversial cases have in the past been fluid."

After an oral argument and an initial vote in the Supreme Court, a draft is written on the issue, which is then circulated among the justices. However, justices are free to change their votes as the draft opinions circulate.

According to Politico, important decisions often go through multiple drafts, even days before the final decision is made.

Nothing is definitive until the document is published, which in this case, some think may occur in the next two months.

Politico also reported that Justices Stephen G. Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan were working on dissents and that it was not clear how Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. planned to vote.

If the ruling were to go through as drafted in February, it would drastically change American women's lives.

Fifty years of guaranteed federal constitutional protection of abortion rights would come to an end, and each state would be free to choose to restrict or ban abortion.