Politico: US Supreme Court plans to abolish abortion law

The U.S. Supreme Court plans to quash the two court rulings guaranteeing a federal right to abortion in the United States, political news website Politico writes, citing leaked documents.

In a preliminary draft of an upcoming court ruling, which Politico could see and publish online, Conservative Chief Justice Samuel Alito writes that “Roe and Casey must be dismissed”. Roe vs. Wade was the 1973 case that gave Americans the right to abortion. That was confirmed in a 1992 ruling in the Planned Parenthood v. Casey case.

“Roe was hugely wrong from the start. It’s time to listen to the Constitution and bring the abortion issue back to the people’s representatives,” Alito wrote in the not-yet-final ruling.

According to Politico, four other chief justices, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, agree and vote with Alito. Three progressive chief justices, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, are writing a so-called dissenting opinion. It is not known how the chairman of the nine-member court, the conservative John Roberts, plans to vote.

A final version of the ruling is not expected for about two months, and judges may still change their minds. If the Court abolishes the federal right to abortion, individual states can decide whether to allow abortion. A number of states, including the most populous state of California, have passed laws protecting the right to abortion.