Biden issues call to action as abortion rights look to be struck down

WASHINGTON

US President Joe Biden issued a full-throated defense of abortion rights on Tuesday following the leak of an apparent draft Supreme Court ruling that would reverse the long-standing rights.

The Politico news website published Monday evening a draft majority opinion in which Justice Samuel Alito rules to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade case, which cemented abortion rights across the land.

He is joined in the not yet final ruling by Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, a person familiar with the court's closed-door deliberations told Politico. Democratic appointed Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan are in dissent.

It is not clear which way Chief Justice John Roberts will vote, but even without his support the court's conservative wing appears to have sufficient votes to overturn Roe in the nine-member court.

In the decision, Alito rules the ruling, which has stood for nearly four decades, "was egregiously wrong from the start."

"We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled," he wrote, referring to the original case and a subsequent 1992 ruling that largely upheld them.

Emphasizing that it is not yet clear if the draft decision is genuine, or if it is going to be the court's final ruling, Biden maintained that he believes "a woman’s right to choose is fundamental."

"Roe has been the law of the land for almost fifty years, and basic fairness and the stability of our law demand that it not be overturned," he said in a statement.

"If the Court does overturn Roe, it will fall on our nation’s elected officials at all levels of government to protect a woman’s right to choose. And it will fall on voters to elect pro-choice officials this November," he added.

An official decision is expected to be published before the court's current term ends in late June or early July, and the draft could see significant revisions in the interim. Justices could also change their positions as the draft circulates.

Should Roe and Casey be overturned, the matter of abortion rights would fall to individual states to determine. That would almost certainly lead to their complete rollback across wide swathes of the Midwest and South.

It is exceptionally rare for a Supreme Court opinion to leak before publication, particularly on such a carefully-watched case.

The court is deliberating on a challenge to Mississippi's ban on abortions after 15 weeks, known as Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. It is just one of several attempts in Republican-led states to restrict abortion rights, several of which are now facing challenges at the top court.