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Reproductive Rights and Roe v. Wade – An Overview

Reproductive Justice is one of the hot topics of 2022, with this as the biggest question:

How could rejection of reproductive rights by the Supreme Court hurt women – particularly Black women and other marginalized groups?

How Overturning Roe v. Wade May Impact U.S. Citizens
The U.S. Supreme Court is set to announce its decision this summer on Dobbs v. Jackson, a case based on an extreme new law in Mississippi that directly challenges Roe v. Wade.

A leaked draft of the Supreme Court’s decision indicates the court is poised to overturn the 50-year precedent of Roe v. Wade and strip women of their constitutional right to make reproductive health care decisions for themselves – including abortion.

Currently abortion is still legal but if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, it will end the constitutional right to abortion and allow states nationwide to ban abortion. If it happens, it will be the most consequential case on abortion in generations.

Overview
There is no path for the Supreme Court to uphold Mississippi’s ban without overturning Roe.

Mississippi directly asked the Court to overturn the landmark abortion rights case.

8 in 10 Americans oppose overturning Roe v. Wade.

Why?

Many Americans believe a woman can never be equal to a man if she is denied the basic right to make decisions for herself or her family.

In America, a solid human rights foundation is critical to sustaining our democracy. The basic human rights of women in America are threatened if the Supreme Court ultimately overturns Roe v. Wade.

In the land of the free and home of the brave, the right to control and make decisions about our own bodies is fundamental to our freedom and rights as citizens in our democracy. This is the very essence of our freedom as Americans.

Each of us has our own unique circumstances. Women should have the right to make both personal and private decisions they feel are best for them.

It’s no secret that women, including Black women, have fought and died for the freedom to control our bodies – Slavery. Segregation. And even the Supreme Court.

As a woman, I have experienced times when my body has been treated as property and moments where I was lowered to second class citizenship in both personal and professional environments.

Women should be trusted with their freedom

I respect birthing people and a woman’s right to abortion, even when I pray to have a child of my own. Single and married women should have the freedom to exercise their right to abortion.

The Dobbs v. Jackson case is part of a coordinated series of attacks on abortion access and women’s reproductive rights by anti-choice groups.

Over 500 new restrictions on abortion access have been introduced in state legislatures across the country in 2022 and considered extreme new laws to a variety of Americans, including criminalization of women and doctors, outlawing of abortion by state, the shutdown of clinics, and restricting access based on income level or defining the medical procedures available to those in need.

If the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, 28 states are expected to move quickly to ban abortion.

13 states have “trigger bans” already in place, which would ban abortion automatically.

56% of Black people in America live in the south and many of the new laws rolling back abortion rights disproportionately impact Black women.

Just the Facts
The United States has the second-highest maternal death rate among developed countries, and Black women are 3 to 4 times more likely to experience a pregnancy-related death than white women.

Forcing women to carry unwanted pregnancies can have deadly consequences, particularly for Black women.

There is an unmistakable overlap in the states where these new laws are being introduced and passed. Black women are facing the reality of having their reproductive rights stolen at a time when their right to vote, equal opportunities in education and employment, and equal pay to white counterparts are being chipped away and undermined at the local, state, and federal levels.

Access to the full spectrum of reproductive and sexual health care, including abortion is critical to the black community and overall birthing people.

Not only should these groups be able to decide whether or not to continue a pregnancy, but they should also have access to the care and resources required for health, wellness, and safety.

All birthing people, regardless of income or location, should be able to access the pregnancy care they choose, free from coercion or shame in their community.

What can you do to help?

Leverage collective power to organize, mobilize ,and vote in upcoming Federal, State, and Local elections.

The majority (80%) of Black people believe abortion should remain legal and women should be able to get safe abortions.

In a recent national poll of Black women voters, 85% of Black women say that making sure women do not lose the freedom to make their own reproductive health care decisions is a top concern.

64% of Black women who self-identify as religious (attend religious service at least once a week, believe that abortion should be legal in all or most cases.

Three-quarters (76%) of Black people agree that health insurance should cover abortion care.

91% of Black people say that a woman’s ability to control whether or when she has children is an important part of financial stability for herself and her family.

74% of Black voters believe abortion is an important voting issue.

79% of Black voters oppose their state passing new laws that severely restrict abortion.

Almost 7 in 10 Black voters (69%) would not vote for a candidate that would overturn Roe.

Here is How Overturning Roe V. Wade could impact the midterms.

How important is the Supreme Court Confirmation Process? Too much to rush

After blocking confirmation of Justice Scalia’s replacement on the U.S. Supreme Court for a full year, the Senate Judiciary Committee is now preparing to take up the nomination of Neil Gorsuch for the post on March 20, nearly seven weeks after President Trump announced his pick. But this nomination won’t go under ” business as usual,” because too much has transpired in the intervening days for the Senate to treat it as such. Moreover, recent revelations have thrown the White House and Department of Justice into turmoil and created a crisis of legitimacy for the Trump Administration that will spill over to the nation’s highest court if there is a rush to judgment on Gorsuch’s confirmation. Also, the Senate and the public lack key information about Judge Gorsuch needed to give his nomination thorough consideration.

In other news, Republicans fighting to repeal the Affordable Care Act have shown their willingness to rush major legislation to short-circuit a thorough review process that would expose the dangerous holes in their proposal; they are attempting to rush the confirmation process of Neil Gorsuch to avoid public scrutiny of his extreme views and record.

Crisis of Legitimacy

Since Trump nominated Judge Gorsuch for the Supreme Court on January 31, Americans have witnessed the forced resignation of National Security Advisor Michael Flynn for lying to the Vice President about his contacts with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak, and seen Attorney General Jeff Sessions recuse himself from any investigations into the Trump campaign after coming under fire for misleading the Senate Judiciary Committee about his previously undisclosed meetings with Kislyak. Now we find out that Flynn was paid more than $500,000 to lobby for the Turkish government even while attending classified intelligence briefings.

The Senate Judiciary Committee’s current focus—and rightly so—is on getting to the bottom of Russian interference in the 2016 elections and possible collusion with the Trump campaign. Last week’s confirmation hearing for the nomination of Rod Rosenstein as Deputy Attorney General had some members of the committee demanding that he commit to appointment of a special prosecutor as a precondition for his approval. Some believe Senators should not take up the confirmation of Judge Gorsuch until matters so critical to our democracy and national security have been resolved, yet Republicans seem intent on rushing his nomination forward.

Lessons Learned from Recent Confirmation Hearings

The Trump Administration has pushed through a number of cabinet-level appointments in recent weeks without full and proper vetting, proper ethics paperwork, or a complete record for Senators to review. That’s bad enough for positions critical to the functioning of the federal government, but completely unacceptable for a lifetime appointment that will shape the direction of the Supreme Court for decades to come.

The fast pace of Jeff Sessions’ confirmation as Attorney General—one of eight major confirmation hearings scheduled over the span of three days—allowed him to dodge numerous questions about potential conflicts of interest given his role as a close political advisor and friend to Trump during the presidential campaign and transition.

When asked if he would recuse himself from any decisions regarding potential criminal prosecutions in connection with Russia’s hacking of the election, Sessions got away with saying, “I am not aware of a basis to recuse myself from such matters.”

As a result, mere weeks later, America is left with an Attorney General who cannot ethically participate in one of the most important matters facing the nation. Sessions will be likewise hobbled on a host of other legal issues that may come before the Department of Justice, including Trump violations of the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause prohibiting foreign gifts and bribes, conflicts of interest created by Trump’s refusal to divest his business holdings into a blind trust, and potential insider trading by Trump family members actively involved in both White House and Trump Organization decision-making.

Gorsuch Role in the Bush Era DOJ

Top among the Gorsuch matters that need more time for investigation are questions about his handling of controversial cases while serving as a Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General from 2005 to 2006, and his role, if any, in the scandal over the politically motivated firings of nine U.S. Attorneys that ultimately led to the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in 2007.

Gorsuch told the Senate Judiciary Committee in response to its questionnaire that, he played a role in “major litigation decisions” and “developing legal strategy” for the Civil Division while at the Justice Department. That division handled some highly controversial cases at the time, including defense of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003, the Defense of Marriage Act, the National Security Agency’s warrantless wiretapping program, and detention of prisoners at Guantanamo.

In addition, Gorsuch was responsible for helping to supervise the Civil Rights Division at a time when there were serious problems with its politicization and lax enforcement of civil rights laws.

The Campaign Legal Center (CLC) filed an expedited Freedom of Information Act request on February 16 seeking documents related to Gorsuch’s involvement with the Civil Rights Division during the U.S. Attorney firing scandal. Another group, Fix the Court, has been waiting for those records for months.

A 2008 report by the DOJ Inspector General found that the firings in 2005 and 2006 were politically motivated, “severely damaged the credibility of the Department and raised serious doubts about the integrity of Department prosecutive decisions.” The Bush Administration had pressured U.S. Attorneys to find and prosecute voter fraud, despite a lack of evidence, and retaliated against those who would not cooperate.

The scandal ultimately resulted in the resignations of AG Gonzalez and seven other prominent DOJ officials, including the former acting Assistant AG for the Civil Rights Division, Brad Schlozman. It seems highly probable that Gorsuch would have had contact with Schlozman and been aware of what was happening in the division.

“The requested records will shed light on what role, if any, Mr. Gorsuch had in the disastrous hiring and firing initiatives implemented at DOJ during his time there,” CLC wrote in its FOIA request. “How Mr. Gorsuch navigated the issue of the DOJ’s independence under an administration bent on interfering for political gain has significant bearing on how he might approach similar troubling interference as a nominee to, and as a Justice on the Supreme Court.”

The Justice Department turned over 144,000 pages of documents to the Judiciary Committee last Wednesday night, but 90,000 of those were from after Gorsuch left the department. Just days away from the confirmation hearings, it is unclear whether the Committee has all the information it asked for—let alone adequate time to review it—and CLC is still waiting for its FOIA records.

With the independence of the judiciary—as well as the integrity of our elections, a free press, and crucial civil rights—under attack from the White House, the Senate and the public must have a complete record of Judge Gorsuch’s role in or handling of past compromises to our system of impartial justice. Will a Justice Gorsuch fiercely defend the rule of law from political manipulation? Just calling such attacks “demoralizing” is not enough.

Protecting the Integrity of the Supreme Court

If Senate leadership rushes through confirmation of Gorsuch in the next few weeks, after holding the position open for more than a year, it will cast the same shadow of illegitimacy that now lies over the White House over the Supreme Court. It is time to slow things down, wait to see if the Trump Administration stabilizes, and allow adequate time to review and debate the wisdom of placing Gorsuch on the Supreme Court bench.