Reproductive rights have been increasingly under threat in the United States in recent months as states have moved to tighten restrictions.
Washington: The Supreme Court is poised to strike down the right to abortion in the United States, according to a leaked draft of a majority opinion that would shred nearly 50 years of constitutional protections.
The draft, obtained by Politico, was written by Justice Samuel Alito and has been circulated inside the conservative-dominated court, the news outlet reported.
The 98-page draft majority opinion calls the landmark 1973 Roe v Wade decision enshrining the right to abortion “egregiously wrong from the start.”
“We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,” Alito writes in the document, labeled as the “Opinion of the Court” and published on Politico’s website. “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.”
In Roe v. Wade, the nation’s highest court held that access to abortion is a woman’s constitutional right.
In a 1992 ruling, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the court guaranteed a woman’s right to an abortion until the fetus is viable outside the womb, which is typically around 22 to 24 weeks of gestation.
“The inescapable conclusion is that a right to an abortion is not deeply rooted in the Nation’s history and traditions,” Alito wrote.
Reproductive rights have been increasingly under threat in the United States in recent months as states have moved to tighten restrictions with some seeking to ban all abortions after six weeks, before many women even know they are pregnant.
Right-wing politicians have launched an assault on abortion, with Democrats, led by President Joe Biden, fighting back to protect access to the procedure.
In December, hearing oral arguments about a Mississippi law that would ban most abortions after 15 weeks, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority appeared inclined to not only uphold the law but to toss out Roe v. Wade.
‘Crisis moment’
The nine-member court, dominated by conservatives following the nomination of three justices by former president Donald Trump, is expected to issue a decision in the Mississippi case by June.
