House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is reacting to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey.
In a statement on Friday morning, Pelosi said, “Today, the Republican-controlled Supreme Court has achieved the GOP’s dark and extreme goal of ripping away women’s right to make their own reproductive health decisions.”
“Because of Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, the Republican Party and their supermajority on the Supreme Court, American women today have less freedom than their mothers,” she continued.
She went on:
“With Roe now out of their way, radical Republicans are charging ahead with their crusade to criminalize health freedom. In the Congress, Republicans are plotting a nationwide abortion ban. In the states, Republicans want to arrest doctors for offering reproductive care and women for terminating a pregnancy. GOP extremists are even threatening to criminalize contraception, as well as in-vitro fertilization and post-miscarriage care.
Finally, Pelosi wrote, “A woman’s fundamental health decisions are her own to make, in consultation with her doctor and her loved ones – not to be dictated by far-right politicians. While Republicans seek to punish and control women, Democrats will keep fighting ferociously to enshrine Roe v. Wade into law. This cruel ruling is outrageous and heart-wrenching. But make no mistake: the rights of women and all Americans are on the ballot this November.”
Because of Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, the Republican Party & their supermajority on the Supreme Court, American women today have less freedom than their mothers. Radical Republicans are now charging ahead with their crusade to criminalize health freedom.
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) June 24, 2022
On Friday morning, the Supreme Court announced its decision in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization abortion case.
Conservative justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett voted to overturn Roe and Casey.
However, Chief Justice John Roberts and justices Stephen Breyer, Elena Kagan, and Sonia Sotomayor dissented.
The majority opinion, penned by Alito, says, “Abortion presents a profound moral question. The Constitution does not prohibit the citizens of each State from regulating or prohibiting abortion.”
“Roe and Casey arrogated that authority. We now overrule those decisions and return that authority to the people and their elected representatives,” it added.
A separate portion of the decision stated, “Held: The Constitution does not confer a right to abortion; Roe and Casey are overruled; and the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives.”
One of the most significant SCOTUS lines in my lifetime:
— Alex Ruoff (@Alexruoff) June 24, 2022
"Held: The Constitution does not confer a right to abortion; Roe and Casey are overruled; and the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives."https://t.co/FGUzFwoVxW
The opinion added, “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start.”
The decision is likely to generate significant outrage among pro-choice activists, some of whom have called for a “summer of rage” if Roe was overturned.
The decision comes over a month a Politico published a report on a draft opinion penned by Justice Samuel Alito that appeared to show the court was poised to overturn the Roe.