Yes. In the last abortion-related case, Stenberg v. Carhart, the Supreme Court was split 5-4, with the majority voting pro-choice. Since that ruling, George W. Bush successfully appointed two anti-choice justices to the court -- Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito. Justice Roberts once wrote in a brief, “(w)e continue to believe that Roe was wrongly decided and should be overruled…” Justice Alito was the only judge on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals to require women to notify their husbands - even husbands who batter women - to obtain an abortion. The new make-up of the Supreme Court will drastically affect cases concerning abortion, starting with Gonzales v. Carhart, on which the Court heard oral arguments in November 2006.
An overturning of Roe would automatically make abortion illegal in 15 states and the District of Columbia, where pre-Roe abortion bans are still on the books and would once again be enforced. Fights to ban abortion would pop up in the rest of the country.
Threats to choice don’t end at the Supreme Court. Access to abortion and contraception is under constant barrage in state legislatures nationwide. From waiting periods and biased mandatory counseling to laws that place unreasonable requirements on clinics providing abortion services, opponents of reproductive rights are relentless in their efforts to chip away at access to abortion. The reality is that, while abortion remains technically legal, it is increasingly difficult to access, especially for underserved populations such as women in rural areas, young women and low-income women.
We can’t afford to sit back while our fundamental rights are undermined. Click here to learn more about what you can do to protect choice.
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