A CNN piece on how US Supreme Court Chief Judge John Roberts ‘might’ be trying to find something of a middle ground for there courts ruling on abortion….
Why?
A decision by the court to completely dismissing the landmark ‘woman’s right’ ruling of Roe v. Wade just could subject the High Court to a rough political wave….
Polling has MOST Americans supporting a women’s right to have a abortion…
The court flying completely in the face of this ?
Could actually hurt the court’s standing…
Something several members of the court campaigned against months ago….
The five conservatives to Roberts’ right, including three appointees of former President Donald Trump, have signaled through the years their opposition to abortion rights. Trump vowed to appoint justices who would overturn Roe, and Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett have all previously criticized decisions giving women a choice to end a pregnancy.
Despite his history of fighting abortion rights, the institutionally minded Roberts showed little interest Wednesday in going further than the precise question that the justices had agreed to take up: May states ban abortions before fetal viability without infringing the Constitution?….
…
When the court first established a right to abortion in 1973, it rooted it in the 14th Amendment’s due process clause, which protects a right to privacy.
The justices in Roe acknowledged that the Constitution contains no explicit reference to a right of privacy but said that in a line of decisions dating to the late 1800s, “the Court has recognized that a right of personal privacy, or a guarantee of certain areas or zones of privacy, does exist under the Constitution.”
The Roe court said the right extends to activities related to marriage, contraception and child rearing, and “is broad enough to encompass a woman’s decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy.”…
…
At one point Alito asked if “the only real options we have are to reaffirm Roe and Casey as they stand or to overrule them in their entirety?” If he or any other justice were to join Roberts in some attempted middle ground, the result would still halt abortion rights as they exist today.
The question then would be: What is left for the future?…
image….Bloomberg
A GREAT question from Ezra Klien…
Ezra Klein
@ezraklein
McConnell ended the filibuster on Supreme Court nominations in order to build the majority that looks likely to overturn Roe.
If Roe is overturned, and Democrats keep Congress, will they end the filibuster so they can enshrine Roe’s protections in legislation?
If not, why not?
One issue voters…
Women who could get pregnant?
Hmmmmm?
Dave Wasserman
@Redistrict
Although Trump downplayed abortion in 2016, voters w/ mostly pro-choice attitudes made up more than a fifth of his support in plenty of battleground states:
25% in Iowa
24% in Florida
24% in Pennsylvania
24% in Michigan
21% in Arizona
20% in Wisconsin
20% in Ohio
Illinois is a place where women can come to have an abortion. The laws are among the most pro-choice in the country, and the percentage of people coming from out of state is growing each year. It is up this year by thousands. A surprising large number of Midwestern states have very restrictive abortion standards.
Women WILL travel like they did back in the day….
Things go backwards…..
It’s really sad that Illinois is as close as some millions of people can come to in respect to having an abortion, or even just an adult, mature conversation about women’s health, reproductive matters.
Looking at Bing Maps, it takes about 12 or 13 hours to drive from San Antonio, Texas, to Springfield or East St. Louis, Illinois, and about twice as long (about a full day) to ride by bus or train.
12 to 13 hours if you don’t stop to pee, get gas, or eat and it assumes you are not stopped as I was by the Missouri Highway patrol who suspected my u-haul was carrying drugs.
And why risk your life by stopping in East St. Louis?
East St Louis now has under 30,000 people with a population that is less than1 1/3 of what it was in 1950.
I was trying to pick an Illinois city that was closest to San Antonio, first picking Cairo (where the Ohio meets the Mississippi). But I also wanted to compare the travel times of some poor woman with a car with one who had to take a bus or train, and Cairo had no such stop (it must have been far different in the 19th Century). East St. Louis seemed to be the closest destination with inter-city public transportation, although Springfield seems to be nearly equally close in travel time (both by car and by train or bus.)
No problem. East St. Louis was a fine city to choose. My comments were irrelevant. I would bet East St. Louis does have an abortion clinic or two because of its proximity to Missouri.
I just checked. There is no abortion clinic in East St. Louis. You would instead need to go to nearby Granite city or Fairview Heights.
St Louis Missouri also has an abortion clinic, but I bet it has more business than it can handle. Maybe Scott has knowledge of this and can comment.
Yes the Planned Parenthood clinic in midtown St. Louis is open with a prominent banner reading “We’te Still Here”. I last passed by it a week or so ago when I went to the IKEA store across the street. An OB GYN from the clinic was on NPR yesterday mentioning how many patients they are now seeing from other states. The clinic usually has a handful of picketers outside who are required to stay on the sidewalk and away from women entering the building.
When my girlfriend first moved here from Texas a few years back and did not have insurance her early stage ovarian cancer was detected at a routine visit to the clinic. Thankfully she’s OK.
We are both big supporters of keeping the cl9nic open obviously. And while I’m sure neither will reply I invite Daniel or CG to reply as to how they would address the needs of women’s health in the community after they get done high fiving and overturn of Roe v. Wade.
What would either of them know about a woman’s need Scott?
I don’t have time to engage today and am not about to “high-five” Daniel on anything.
Scott’s question is an odd one. To the extent I can understand it, I think that it makes sense in theory that if further restrictions wind up being placed on abortion by the elected representatives of the people, then OB/GYNs who had previously performed abortions would then be able to focus more on treating ovarian cancer, etc. If a Planned Parenthood has to stop doing abortions, then they can engage in other areas of focus to save life and not destroy life.
I believe I read that the Mississippi law being litigated, which bans most abortions after 15 weeks, would affect about just 5% of abortions in Mississippi.
Of course, men, women, children, and indeed all people rely on all sorts of health care professionals and the accessibility to health care in all communities should be a priority to all. There are many aspects to that including the need for more community and rural health centers, further developments in telemedicine, and lawsuit reform which prevents doctors from practicing medicine.
Enjoy the weekend.
A platitudinous dodge if there ever was one.
Blah, blah, blah….accessibility to health care, blah, blah, blah, rural health centers, blah, blah, blah. What do you think family planning clinics are for you dumb fuck? So prime and proper, and so clueless. Really, if less abortions are performed doctors can focus on treating other “lady issues” — like what? Your stupidity?
And, since you oppose taxation how the fuck would you pay for any of this stuff? I am sure Mitch McConnell will be the first to offer a tax increase on billionaires to finance rural health clinics.
Only 5% of the folks seeking to terminate a pregnancy in Mississippi might be impacted? How many are dying because Tate Reeve says it’s OK to get COVID because they believe in God and will go to heaven when they die. Same stupid cracker government system that bangs on about God, Guns and the flag now making poor women pay a tremendous price when they won’t help, at all, when the baby is born. Besides, you willfully ignorant boy, the Mississippi law will open the flood gates for at least half the nation, the ignorant Republican controlled states, to oppress their young female population. You down with that Corey? Of course you are.
All this bullshit coming from the boy who once said, “one illegal vote is one two many,” how many fucking illegal abortions will there be now? But, we all know, you don’t really care now do you. You belong to the 50’s Club. Let’s go back to Mad Men, Leave it to Beaver, Ike and Mamie, where black and poor people might be seen, not heard, and never allowed to vote.
Pathetic that someone has reached middle age and can still be so clueless or so simply mean spirited.
I largely agree with CG on the need for medical malpractice reform – which I assume is what he refers to as “lawsuit reform”. lawsuit awards continue to grow a rate that far exceeds what could be justified, and ultimately we all are indirectly paying for those lawsuits.
I haven’t been following the cost of medical malpractice insurance in recent years, but I am assuming its costs continue to easily outpace inflation.
Roe v Wade left the decesion about a woman’s body UP TO HER……
These state restriction’s do NOT…….
Scott’s example is a prime case
Someone here pointed out that these who want to set judgment actually have NOTHING to do with the ramifications of a change in the law
Abortion should NOT be used as birth control
But neither should the state take awy options from women on how they deal with ‘their’ bodies
Taking a break from telling everyone on the right to arm themselves for the coming revolution, Madison Cawthorn said this week that “women are here because God created them as earthen vessels.”
How very handmaiden of him don’t you think. When will this little Nazi realize that the real Nazis got rid of people in wheelchairs?
I wonder if Madison supports rural health care clinics for poor women? Do you think?
Like I said–I do not expect an answer, especially from Daniel.,
What will they say, “I want things like they were in the 1950s?? Men, especially white men, ruled and women knew their place? That’s what a lot of this is about. Anyone who thinks they have the right to tell a woman what she can or cannot do with her own body wants the clocked turned back.
My body, my choice only applies to masks, and that of course is a ridiculous in a public health crisis.
The goal of most anti choice conservatives regarding Planned Parenthood is to shut it down completely.
If CG believes they should remain open and still provide women’s health services to the poor and uninsured I give him credit for that. But let’s be honest–what OB GYN is going to want to work in an environment where they can be fired for even suggesting family planning like the morning after pill. I work in health care recruitment. Many red states already have a hard time attracting medical professionals. These doctors will just relocate to where they don’t have the likes of CG getting between them and their 0atients vaginas. Then who will spend all that extra time diagnosing ovarian cancer? Some janitor in a MAGA hat?
Very true Scott, but again they don’t care about that, it’s cover for keeping women in their place, but they can’t say that so they get weepy over the need for health care in poor states (aka red states). Somehow end legal abortion as we know it will improve women’s health.