Abortion activists demand changes at Supreme Court one year after Dobbs leak
One year after a leaked draft United Supreme Court decision on the constitutionality of abortion set off a political earthquake, states have taken divergent action on abortion policy as advocates on both sides of the abortion debate are calling for additional reforms in American politics and vowing to remain undeterred in their activism.
Tuesday marked the first anniversary of Politico’s publication of the leaked draft decision in the U.S. Supreme Court case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which had indicated that a majority of justices were prepared to overturn the Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion nationwide. The leak led to outrage among pro-abortion activists, which resulted in the vandalism of pro-life pregnancy centers and churches nationwide. One pregnancy center was firebombed.
In the weeks following the leak and leading up to the ruling, a pro-abortion activist attempted to assassinate Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Kavanaugh was one of the five justices who signed onto the majority opinion in the Dobbs draft decision and final ruling allowing each state to make its own laws governing abortion.
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Multiple protests were staged outside the homes of the five Republican-appointed justices who comprised the Dobbs majority after pro-abortion activist groups published the justices’ home addresses online. The Supreme Court ultimately determined that the U.S. Constitution had never contained a right to abortion a month-and-a-half after the draft Dobbs decision was leaked, paving the way for more than a dozen states to enact total or near-total bans on abortion.
Data compiled by the pro-life group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America shows that 15 states have laws on the books that ban all or most abortions, while an additional six states have similar measures tied up in court. Florida, for example, has a 15-week abortion ban in place, while the remaining states have “few or no limits on abortion.”
Meanwhile, several states have taken the opposite approach to abortion law in the aftermath of Dobbs. As documented by the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute, 13 states have codified a right to abortion up until the point of viability into state law while an additional four states and Washington, D.C. allow abortion up until the moment of birth. In last year’s midterm elections, voters in California, Michigan and Vermont approved referendums establishing a right to abortion in their state constitutions.
Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America Vice President of Government Affairs, Marilyn Musgrave, delivered a message to the perpetrators of pro-abortion violence in a statement shared with CP: “You will not win. Love is stronger than hate. The overwhelming majority of Americans are on the side of life. Threats and intimidation will not deter us from our mission. We will not rest until every child in America is protected and all mothers are free from abortion coercion.”
“While pro-abortion radicals have committed at least 85 acts of senseless destruction and targeted our foundational institutions of justice themselves, pro-life advocates have been busy saving lives and serving women,” she added. “With gratitude to all our allies standing with our front-line pregnancy center heroes, we continue to call on the Biden administration to condemn pro-abortion violence and bring the perpetrators to justice.”
Carrie Severino, president of the Judicial Crisis Network, addressed the first anniversary of the Dobbs draft leak and its implications for American politics in a Twitter thread Tuesday. “The Dobbs leak happened one year ago today but the Left’s campaign to intimidate the Supreme Court continues,” she lamented.
The Dobbs leak happened one year ago today but the Left’s campaign to intimidate the Supreme Court continues.
— Carrie Severino (@JCNSeverino) May 2, 2023
Have no doubt, today’s hearing is just another phase in that campaign. First came the physical threats: doxxing their homes, churches, and kids’ schools. An attempted…
“Have no doubt, today’s hearing is just another phase in that campaign. First, come the physical threats: doxxing their homes, churches, and kids’ schools,” she wrote. “Now it’s phase two: attacking the justices’ reputations and the institution of the Court by fabricating new ethics standards and applying them selectively to the conservative justices.”
The pro-abortion advocacy group NARAL also reacted to the first anniversary of the leak of the draft Dobbs opinion and weighed in on the hearing Severino alluded to in her Twitter thread. In a tweet Tuesday, NARAL lamented that “Today marks a year since we learned #SCOTUS was getting ready to overturn #Roe.”
Today marks a year since we learned #SCOTUS was getting ready to overturn #Roe.
— NARAL (@NARAL) May 2, 2023
The leak showed the Court's corruption. GOP megadonors spent years appointing conservative justices who would do anything to further an extremist agenda—including revoking a constitutional right.
“The leak showed the Court’s corruption,” the advocacy organization insisted. “GOP megadonors spent years appointing conservative justices who would do anything to revoke an extremist agenda — including revoking a constitutional right.”
Additionally, NARAL praised the Democrats on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee for holding a “hearing on ethics reform for the Court,” adding, “If the Dobbs decision and its aftermath taught us anything, it’s that we need court reform.” In a statement, NARAL acknowledged the purpose of Tuesday’s hearing was to probe “concerns of ethics violations from Justice Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch,” two of the justices who formed the majority opinion in Dobbs.
A year ago, we learned that the Supreme Court was going to overturn Roe.
— NARAL (@NARAL) May 2, 2023
Today, @JudiciaryDems are holding a hearing on ethics reform for the Court. If the Dobbs decision and its aftermath showed us anything, it’s that we need court reform.
Watch live: https://t.co/wLHJLGE9IC
Two weeks ago, NARAL elaborated on its view as to what constitutes “court reform,” calling for an expansion of the Supreme Court. The pro-abortion group admitted that one of the goals behind increasing the number of justices is “to protect reproductive freedom.” Adding more justices to the bench has been floated by pro-abortion politicians as a way to nullify the impact of the nominally conservative 6-3 Supreme Court majority, which consists of six justices appointed by Republican presidents and three justices appointed by Democratic presidents.
For their part, all nine justices on the Supreme Court, spanning the full ideological spectrum, released a joint “Statement on Ethics Principles and Practices” ahead of Tuesday’s hearing. The justices defended the existing “ethics principles and practices to which they subscribe in carrying out their responsibilities as Members of the Supreme Court of the United States” and pushed back on the idea that additional reforms were necessary.
Last week, when speaking at George Mason University, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, who authored the Dobbs opinion, indicated that he had “a pretty good idea” of who leaked the draft decision but stressed that he does not have “the level of proof that is needed to name somebody.” Alito remains confident that “It was a part of an effort to prevent the Dobbs draft . . . from becoming the decision of the court” and “part of the campaign to try to intimidate the court.”
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
