Florida Reacts To Likelihood Of Roe Reversal By Supreme Court

Miami FL

05 May, 2022

9:29 AM

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A Miami Times Staff Report May 3, 2022 Florida lawmakers have responded to a leaked draft opinion suggesting that the U.S. Supreme Court is planning to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion nationwide. "For 50 years, women in our country have had the right to safe reproductive health," Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried said at a Freedom To Choose rally she hosted Tuesday afternoon. "This fight is just beginning and we have to make sure that we are speaking up, we are organizing and we are electing pro-choice men and women all across our country." Standing at Miami Dade College's Freedom Tower, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate decried her Republican opponent, Gov. Ron DeSantis, for recently signing a 15-week abortion ban that has no exceptions for rape or incest. The law brings Florida into the ranks of anti-abortion states. "The Republicans are celebrating today. This is a win for them," Fried said. Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, who Fried said was supposed to be attending the rally but had to attend a county commission meeting instead, said that overturning Roe is more than a reversal of 50 years of reproductive rights. "It's a direct assault on the lives of women and girls across America. This is a dangerous step backward for our nation and its devastating effect will be felt for generations to come," Cava said in a tweet. In response to the leaked draft published by Politico, Congressman Charlie Crist, who is also running for governor, issued a statement Tuesday. "The time to fight on behalf of all women is now," Crist said. "As a member of the House of Representatives, I proudly joined my colleagues in voting to make Roe v. Wade law, but now it's time for the Senate to act." Similarly, U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson called on Congress to put in the work "to put an end to extremist attacks on the reproductive rights of women." Chief Justice Roberts confirmed the leaked document's authenticity on Tuesday and called it an "egregious breach" of trust and that he has "directed the Marshal of the Court to launch an investigation into the source of the leak." Its advance publication disrupts an almost unbroken tradition of secrecy at the court. Protestors gather outside Supreme Court building. (via Twitter) Abortions will become unavailable or be seriously curtailed in roughly 13 states with "trigger laws" already on the books, waiting to take effect as soon as Roe v. Wade is struck down. As many as 26 states are expected to ban the procedure when that time comes. Of those, 22 states already have total or near-total bans in place. A decision in the case had been expected before the court begins its summer recess in late June or early July, so it could be more than a month before the court actually issues a final opinion. If the court does what the draft suggests, the ruling would upend a nearly 50-year-old decision. "Roe was egregiously wrong from the start," the draft opinion states. It was signed by Justice Samuel Alito, a member of the court's 6-3 conservative majority who was appointed by former President George W. Bush. The document was labeled a "1st Draft" of the "Opinion of the Court" in a case challenging Mississippi's ban on abortion after 15 weeks, a case known as Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. The draft opinion in effect states there is no constitutional right to abortion services. "We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled," it states, referencing the 1992 case Planned Parenthood v. Casey that affirmed Roe's finding of a constitutional right to abortion services but allowed states to place some constraints on the practice. "It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people's elected representatives." Politico said it received "a copy of the draft opinion from a person familiar with the court's proceedings in the Mississippi case along with other details supporting the authenticity of the document." People on both sides of the issue flocked to the Supreme Court waving signs and chanting, following Politico's late Monday night bombshell report. Alito, in the draft, said the court can't predict how the public might react and shouldn't try. "We cannot allow our decisions to be affected by any extraneous influences such as concern about the public's reaction to our work," Alito wrote in the draft opinion, according to Politico. An AP-NORC poll in December found that Democrats increasingly see protecting abortion rights as a high priority for the government. On Tuesday, President Joe Biden urged legislative action to turn Roe into law if overturned, asserting "it will fall on our nation's elected officials at all levels of government to protect a woman's right to choose." "It will fall on voters to elect pro-choice officials this November," he vowed. "At the federal level, we will need more pro-choice Senators and a pro-choice majority in the House to adopt legislation that codifies Roe, which I will work to pass and sign into law." Other polling shows relatively few Americans want to see Roe overturned. In 2020, AP VoteCast found that 69% of voters in the presidential election said the Supreme Court should leave the Roe v. Wade decision as is; just 29% said the court should overturn the decision. In general, AP-NORC polling finds a majority of the public favors abortion being legal in most or all cases. Still, when asked about abortion policy generally, Americans have nuanced attitudes on the issue, and many don't think that abortion should be possible after the first trimester or that women should be able to obtain a legal abortion for any reason. Overturning Roe will further ignite the country's culture wars and undoubtedly impact the midterm elections as candidates on both sides of the aisle are already seizing on the report to fundraise and energize their supporters. The Miami Times is the largest Black-owned newspaper in the south serving Miami's Black community since 1923. The award-winning weekly is frequently recognized as the best Black newspaper in the country by the National Newspaper Publishers Association.