In the past few days, there have been widespread rumors in China that abortion has been banned in the United States, and that the United States has retreated to the Middle Ages overnight. Is this really the case?
In fact, the Supreme Court did not ban abortion, but only returned the right to abortion to the states. After the ruling, blue states can still protect women's right to abortion. The ruling mainly affects extremely conservative red states, which were previously unable to ban abortion because of the Roe v. Wade case.
In the 1973 Roe v. Wade case, the Supreme Court used precedents to guarantee women’s right to abortion. At that time, the Supreme Court voted 7:2 to confirm that a woman’s right to decide whether to continue a pregnancy is protected by the Constitution’s personal autonomy and privacy provisions. .
According to the ruling, American women enjoy relatively free abortion rights within 3 months. After 3 months, the right to abortion is restricted. After 24-28 weeks, abortion is prohibited unless the life and health of the mother are seriously threatened. Because of this precedent, many southern states were unable to ban abortion and could only restrict it.
For example, Florida and Mississippi stipulate that abortion is not allowed after 15 weeks of pregnancy, even if it is a rape pregnancy. Texas is the most extreme, stipulating that abortion is not allowed after 6 weeks of pregnancy, but they have no power to ban abortion. Previously, the decisions of Mississippi and Texas were appealed to the Supreme Court, and some members of the public asked the Supreme Court to overturn the decisions of the courts in the two states based on Roe v. Wade.
But the Supreme Court has now given its answer. Not only are they not prepared to overturn the judgments of the two states, but they have directly overturned the previous precedents. Six conservative justices unanimously overturned Roe v. Wade.
Samuel Atoli, a conservative justice of the Supreme Court, said in the majority opinion: "Roe v. Wade" has weak arguments and has not solved the abortion issue. Instead, it has stirred up debate and deepened differences. Roe v. Wade is “stunningly wrong, devastating,” and must be struck down. Abortion is not mentioned in the Constitution and should not be protected by the Constitution. "
Conservative justices believe that the Roe v. Wade case was an override of the Supreme Court's legislative power. The Constitution does not have provisions to protect the right to abortion. The restrictions on the right to abortion by state courts and state legislatures are not unconstitutional. Since there is no If it is unconstitutional , the Supreme Court has no right to intervene.
Although the Supreme Court does not ban abortion in name, its decision actually limits the right of some women to have abortions.
Due to the extreme conservativeness of some southern states, once the Supreme Court no longer intervenes, They may enact bills banning abortion, but for left-leaning blue states, state legislatures and state courts will still protect women's right to abortion.
It should be noted that even California does not completely restrict abortion. California law stipulates that, Abortion will be banned after 24 weeks of pregnancy. Except for a few extremely conservative red states, most states still only dispute the date of abortion, not simply prohibiting or allowing it.
American media statistics indicate that the Supreme Court’s decision may immediately lead to abortion. The act is illegal in 22 states in the United States. Some red states, such as Kentucky, Wyoming, Louisiana, Missouri, South Dakota, etc., may completely ban abortion, even in cases of rape or incest.
About 38% of states, mostly blue states, will still fully protect women’s right to abortion, while 39% will neither prohibit nor protect it. The court's decision has indeed caused one-third of women to lose their right to abortion. Although in theory, women in red states can go to blue states to have abortions, the cost will increase dramatically. Some states, such as Mississippi, will even prevent women in their own states from having abortions. Going to blue states for abortions. Many people say that they can return to the Middle Ages overnight. This is not false. The real impact of the ruling is precisely on women in those conservative states.
There are different opinions on whether the Supreme Court's decision is correct. The liberal view is that if according to the constitutional fundamentalists' view, that is, if there are no clear rights in the constitution, they will not be protected. Then not only abortion rights, but also gay rights and women's work should not be protected. rights, even racial equality, should not be protected. Theoretically, if the Supreme Court interprets the Constitution completely in accordance with the original doctrine, then apartheid can be restored in the South.
Conservative views have two parts. One is religion. Christians believe that a fertilized egg is life, and abortion is equal to murder and a crime. The second is the issue of the power of the Supreme Court. Conservatives attach great importance to the power of states and believe that the Supreme Court cannot interfere with state legislation without explicit provisions in the Constitution. They also believe that personal autonomy and privacy rights stipulated in the Constitution do not apply to abortion.
The debate comes and goes, and both liberals and conservatives have their own reasons. I am not going to argue here about whose view is right or who is more in line with the spirit of the Constitution. I have never believed that there is a fixed dogma. People will interpret the law according to their own interests at any time, even these so-called pious conservatives. No exception.
A little-known fact is that 4 of the 7 justices who supported Roe v. Wade (7:2) were Republicans, while the opponents were 1 Democrat and 1 Republican. A Gallup poll at the time showed that most Americans believed that the decision about whether to have an abortion should be made by the woman and the attending doctor, with 68% of Republicans supporting it, even higher than 59% of Democrats. The ruling was pushed by both Republicans and Democrats.
To this day, most Americans still support abortion rights. According to a Pew Research Center survey, 61% of Americans believe that abortion is legal in all or most cases, while 37% believe that abortion is legal in all or most cases. Illegal in most cases. Even among Republicans, 38% believe abortion should be legal.
In terms of religion, 56% of Catholics believe abortion is legal, 60% of non-evangelical Protestants believe abortion is legal, and 66% of black Protestants believe abortion is legal. The most opposed to abortion are evangelicals, 74% of them. % believe abortion is illegal.
Judging from the polls, the Supreme Court’s decision does not conform to public opinion. The current composition of the Supreme Court does not reflect the actual situation of American society. Today’s Supreme Court can only represent the interests of evangelicals.
This judgment exposed two problems.
First, the Roe v. Wade case reflects the shortcomings of the American judicial system, that is, the president has too much power in appointments, and a president's political ideas can affect the fate of the United States for 30 years. Trump By an extremely accidental opportunity, three conservative justices were added in a row, completely changing the political landscape of the United States.
The statement that the justices are independent and not affected by their political views is even more nonsense. If the justices are really not affected by their own political views, then why do conservative and liberal justices confront each other every time? Why do today's Are conservative judges much more conservative than conservative judges in the 1970s?
The Supreme Court is also a political game, and the justices are also mortals and have no divinity. The disharmony between the U.S. Supreme Court and American society will only get worse.
Second, it reflects the polarization of American politics. On the right side, Republicans in the 1970s did not feel that abortion was an important issue, but with the renewed interest of the evangelical movement, abortion became a major issue. After Reagan took advantage of evangelicals to come to power, the Republican Party was on the road to becoming religious. Keep running.
Today's evangelicals are more like Judaism than Christianity. Their strict laws, serious exclusion, and fanatical pursuit of the Old Testament and Jewish are more like believers in Judaism. The reason for their fanaticism was their rebellion against the New Left movement of the 1960s.
If a group occupies an absolutely dominant position in society, it will naturally be tolerant of other groups. In the 1970s, the proportion of Christians in the United States was much higher than today. Christians could tolerate dissidents and even make concessions on abortion rights. However, as the atmosphere in the United States became more and more left-wing, some believers inevitably went to extremes, whether it was Evangelicals or Islamic fundamentalists are all extreme reactions of vulnerable groups in desperate situations. (If we strictly abide by the doctrine, Christian women will not have abortions, and abortionists will be punished by God after death, so why bother with the law?)
Roe v. Wade was overturned by evangelicals An unprecedented victory, but this victory will undoubtedly exacerbate the divisions in American society. The dissonance between the Supreme Court and American society will become increasingly severe in the future. Perhaps the victory of evangelicals is only temporary. After all, the younger generation in the United States, even Republicans, are becoming more and more enlightened on many issues of equal rights. Even the Catholic Pope has compromised, let alone others?
