BREAKING: SCOTUS overturns landmark abortion case
Ruling paves the way for anti-abortion laws in Georgia
The U.S. Supreme Court has voted to overturn two landmark cases that established a woman’s right to an abortion under the Constitution.
Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization is a Mississippi case that challenged the legality of a 15-week ban on abortions, with no exceptions for rape or incest.
An abortion clinic in Jackson, Mississippi sued state health officials to overturn the 2018 law. Lower courts had blocked the law but the state of Mississippi appealed to the Supreme Court.
In a 6-3 judgement, the high court’s conservative majority believes that the issue of abortion must be decided by the states, essentially overturning the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. The case sparked a nationwide debate over abortion rights and fueled a decades-long effort by anti-abortion activists to overturn the decision.
The ruling also overturns the 1992 case of Planned Parenthood v. Casey, a Pennsylvania case that established Roe v. Wade as settled precedent.
Conservative Justice Samuel Alito wrote the majority opinion for the court:
“The Constitution does not confer a right to abortion; Roe and Casey are overruled; and the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives.”
The ruling is set to impact millions of women across the country. Supporters say that the case was incorrectly decided from the start, arguing that the issue of abortion must be left to the states. But critics say that the ruling could disproportionally impact poor women and women of color, who might not have easier access to healthcare than their white counterparts.
The court’s three liberal Justices dissented:
“With sorrow—for this Court, but more, for the many millions of American women who have today lost a fundamental constitutional protection—we dissent.”
The ruling paves the way for Georgia and several other Republican-led states to outlaw abortion. Many states have so-called “trigger laws” crafted to go into effect in anticipation of this ruling from the court.
Here in Georgia, Republican state legislators passed a law in 2019 that would ban abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, but the law made exceptions for rape and/or incest.
The law has been litigated in court since its passage, but Wednesday’s Supreme Court ruling could allow the law to go into effect. Judges had suggested that they will not rule on the case pending the Supreme Court decision.
The political fallout from this ruling will be enormous. Here in Georgia, the ruling could drastically reshape the race for governor and several other competitive races up and down the ballot.
Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, who signed the 2019 abortion ban, has campaigned on passing anti-abortion legislation. “Georgia will remain a state that values life at all stages, and as we anticipate the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision, Georgians should rest assured that I will continue to fight for the strongest pro-life law in the country,” he said in May.
His Democratic rival, Stacey Abrams, has outlined her opposition to abortion bans. She has called the 2019 ban a “forced pregnancy law” and has said that she will fight to overturn laws like this if she is elected governor. She was also featured in a recent Washington Post column detailing her personal transition on the issue.
Lots of people will be voicing their reaction to the decision in the coming days, but we know that Georgians have grown more opposed to abortion bans.
A January poll from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution found that nearly 7 in 10 Georgians opposed overturning Roe v. Wade, including 43% of Republicans. This number has hardly changed since 2019, when 68% of Georgians said that they opposed overturning the landmark case.
When asked about the state’s 2019 abortion ban, 54% said that they opposed the law, while 38% said that they support it. Opposition to the law has grown since it was signed, when 49% opposed it and 45% supported it.
From a legal standpoint, the ruling now shifts the focus to state attorneys general and local district attorneys. Because they will be the ones deciding how (and if) abortion cases are prosecuted.
For example, in Michigan, Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel has derided a nearly century-old abortion ban as “draconian” and has said that she will push for state courts to invalidate the law, regardless of the Supreme Court’s decision.
In the race for Georgia Attorney General, Republican incumbent Chris Carr has defended the law both in court and on the campaign trail. His Democratic opponent, Jen Jordan, has said that she will not defend the law in court if she is elected.
DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston, a Democrat, has signaled that she will not prosecute abortion cases if they are presented to her office. She said since local prosecutors are always confronted about their stances drugs and guns, there’s no reason to believe they won’t be asked about their position on abortion if it becomes illegal.
“When I see laws that will divide people on living in the margins, based on their economic situation, based on their race, because we know access to abortion becomes more difficult for black and brown people, then it is my job to use my discretion to lessen those inherent inequalities that exist,” Boston went on to say.
So in terms of how these types of cases are dealt with in the justice system, state and local prosecutors (and who holds these offices) will become very important going forward.
We are now in uncharted territory. The issue of abortion, which for decades had been established as a constitutional right, will now be left up to the states. It is too early to tell what the long-term ramifications will be, but we know that it has the chance to reshape our state’s political and legal landscape. Not just in 2022, but for years to come.
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