Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez warns Supreme Court ‘coming for’ same-sex marriage after Roe v Wade leak
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called out GOP lawmakers over this weekend’s threat of a government shutdown. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has warned that the Supreme Court could be “coming for” same-sex marriage after a leak suggested it plans to overturn Roe v Wade.
A leaked document has signalled that the court is poised to overturn Roe v Wade, which grants abortion rights.
The Supreme Court has voted to strike down the landmark 1973 decision, according to an initial draft majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito, reported Politico.
The 1973 ruling guaranteed federal protections of abortion rights, however Alito argues in the leaked opinion that “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start”.
“We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,” he wrote in the document. “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.”
Ocasio-Cortez warned that Roe v Wade does not just concern abortion rights but a “right to privacy”, and that same-sex marriage and civil rights could be at risk if it is overturned.
“As we’ve warned, SCOTUS [Supreme Court of the United States] isn’t just coming for abortion – they’re coming for the right to privacy Roe rests on, which includes gay marriage and civil rights”, she said on Twitter.
As we’ve warned, SCOTUS isn’t just coming for abortion – they’re coming for the right to privacy Roe rests on, which includes gay marriage + civil rights.
Manchin is blocking Congress codifying Roe. House has seemingly forgotten about Clarence Thomas. These 2 points must change https://t.co/5Isec0osV0— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) May 3, 2022
Congresswoman Ilhan Omar added: “Overturning Roe would put the lives of women across the country at risk.
“It would fly in the face of decades of precedent and the overwhelming majority of public opinion. And they will not stop here.”
Former presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren criticised the Supreme Court for holding “extremist” views after the draft document leaked.
“An extremist Supreme Court is poised to overturn Roe v Wade and impose its far-right, unpopular views on the entire country.
“It’s time for the millions who support the Constitution and abortion rights to stand up and make their voices heard. We’re not going back – not ever.”
Overturning Roe would put the lives of women across the country at risk. It would fly in the face of decades of precedent and the overwhelming majority of public opinion. And they will not stop here.
Expand the court. https://t.co/EDktEETxvb— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) May 3, 2022
According to Politico, a source “familiar with the court’s deliberations” said that four other conservative Supreme Court justices – Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett – were backing Alito in his opinion.
The news outlet explained that the opinion is a draft, and the court’s holding will not be final until it is published.
If the majority opinion remains the same, abortion would become instantly illegal in the 22 US states which still have total bans that were made defunct after Roe v Wade, according to the BBC.
The New York Times found that if Roe v Wade was overturned, “41 per cent of women of childbearing age would see the nearest abortion clinic close, and the average distance they would have to travel to reach one would be 279 miles, up from 35 miles now”.
Protesters, both pro and anti-abortion, gathered outside the Supreme Court on Monday night, while House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer released a joint statement, in which they said: “If the report is accurate, the Supreme Court is poised to inflict the greatest restriction of rights in the past fifty years – not just on women but on all Americans.
“The Republican-appointed Justices’ reported votes to overturn Roe v Wade would go down as an abomination, one of the worst and most damaging decisions in modern history.”
