Elected Officials Reacted To Leaked US Supreme Court Majority Opinion Re: Roe v. Wade
Area elected officials are reacting to a Politico report that a leaked US Supreme Court draft majority opinion indicates that the nation’s highest court would strike down Roe V. Wade, the landmark decision that legalized abortion.
US Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del.:
“Reversing the long-settled protections in Roe is outrageous. Every woman in America deserves the chance to make their own reproductive health care choices. Should this decision become law, roughly half the states in our country will make all or nearly all abortions illegal, leading to gross inequalities in health care access. This decision would be the end result of a decades-long conservative campaign to construct a Supreme Court that would gut the right to choose, put at risk women’s access to birth control and allow states to criminalize women seeking access to reproductive health care, even in cases of rape or incest.
“This country cannot return to a time of unsafe, back-alley abortions. It’s more important than ever that we work to make sure women broadly have access to reproductive health care.”
Gov. Glenn Youngkin, R-Va.
“I am in utter disbelief that the sacred confidentiality of the Supreme Court would be violated in this manner. Sadly, this leak was done in order to cause chaos and to put pressure on justices and elected officials. It’s premature to speculate on what the Supreme Court’s decision will be; however, we learned from listening to Virginians over the last year that we have much common ground on this issue. I am pro-life, and I have been very clear about that since the day I launched my campaign. While we wait for the final June decision, we will be focused on lowering taxes for Virginians, funding education and law enforcement because we need to get a budget passed.”
US Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md.
“If the draft opinion striking down Roe v. Wade stands, it will put the health, wellbeing and constitutional rights of women across this nation in great jeopardy. Should the court continue on this path, people in more than half of the states would immediately lose access to safe, legal abortion. Low-income families and those without the means to leave their homes for care in states like Maryland will be the most burdened.
“No level of government, whether federal, state or local, nor Congress, the President, or the Supreme Court, should interfere in personal health decisions. Despite testifying before Congress under oath that Supreme Court precedents should stand, the recently appointed conservative members of the court arrived with an agenda to overturn Roe and now they are making that a reality. Senate Republicans bear responsibility for confirming justices far outside of the legal mainstream, as well as for changing the rules for considering vacancies after the death of Justice Scalia compared to the death of Justice Ginsburg.
“Congress and the Biden administration must take swift action to protect personal reproductive and health rights for Americans. From Maryland to Mississippi, Florida to Washington State, there should be a common standard for self-determination of health decisions for women and all individuals.”
Md. Attorney General Brian Frosh, D-Md.
“The draft opinion of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade is a dangerous departure from 50 years of precedent. If adopted by a majority of the Court, the decision will undermine the rights of women to control their own bodies and their health care. It will subject survivors of abuse, rape and incest to additional trauma by preventing them from accessing abortions. And, as usual, a decision overturning Roe will have the most harmful and lasting impact on women of color and on poor women, many of whom already lack meaningful access to safe, affordable reproductive health care.
“A decision overturning Roe also has broader implications for our modern society, threatening the rights of all Americans to make private decisions about their lives without government interference and endangering the hard-fought rights of LGBTQ Americans. The Supreme Court is about to take a deep dive into politics, something it appropriately and historically avoids. As citizens, it is more important than ever that we demand better from those who hold power in our institutions and that we hold our elected officials accountable for their role in protecting our rights.
“Elected officials in Maryland have protected women’s rights for more than three decades, and I am proud to have been a part of those efforts both as a legislator and as the Attorney General. I am especially proud of having voted to codify Roe v. Wade in the House of Delegates in 1991 and for the work that our office has done to protect and expand access to reproductive health care services across Maryland. I am optimistic that our state will continue to be a champion for the rights of women to make their own health care decisions, and that it will continue to protect the rights to privacy for all Marylanders.”
