“Does this mean that in Florida they can decide they’re going to pass a law saying that same-sex marriage is not permissible, that it’s against the law in Florida?” he asked.
If this legal basis was undermined, she contended, there would also be implications for other rights. However, among liberals there are fears that a ruling along the lines of the draft opinion could pave the way for not just abortion but also other existing social rights, that are not specifically set out in the constitution, to be rolled back also.ĭemocratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez warned that the Roe V Wade ruling rested on the principle of the right to privacy. If the draft opinion obtained by the news organisation Politico represents the final version of the court’s finding then it would mean that the guaranteed federal constitutional protections of abortion rights, dating back to the landmark “Roe V Wade” ruling in 1973, would be swept away.
By the early hours of Tuesday morning, just a short time after the stunning and unprecedented leak that the US supreme court was set to overturn existing abortion rights, there were several hundred people out on the streets of Washington.īoth anti-abortion and pro-choice groups headed for the supreme court – an indication that all sides realised that the US was potentially on the cusp of a moment that would have enormous legal, social and political implications.