Month: May 2022

Blog post: “Abortion is a constitutional right.” Is it?

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By Monica Chen One of the phrases I keep hearing in the turbulence after the SCOTUS leak on Roe v. Wade is that abortion is a constitutional right, which — that does not sound right, does it? This blog post is my first look at this assertion by politicians and activists on the abortion issue. Is abortion a constitutional right? If you look at the writings and talks by the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg — the answer seems to be, “Not really.” Or she’d rebuke you for asking the wrong question to begin with. Roe was settled on the right to privacy. But for Ginsburg, reproductive choice, not abortion, was a constitutional right for women and came down to equal protection under the law, under the due process clause of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. Ginsburg was critical of Roe, the 1973 landmark decision. She thought it was shockingly sweeping, halted progress that was already underway in the states, proved to be divisive over time, and Ginsburg seemed to have always supported the …

Not abortions, Gov. Cooper — Lockdowns

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By Monica Chen Immediately after news broke that the Supreme Court is poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, Gov. Roy Cooper took to Twitter to support women’s health. “Now more than ever, governors and state legislatures must stand up for women’s healthcare,” Cooper wrote on the evening of May 2. The next day, Cooper also joined 16 other governors to call on Congress to “protect access to women’s health care,” he wrote in another tweet. “Reproductive healthcare decisions are deeply personal and should be made by patients in consultation with their health care providers, not by politicians,” the letter signed by Cooper stated, to push Congress to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act. But according to N.C. Attorney General Josh Stein, Roe being overturned means North Carolina will revert to abortion being legal for the first 20 weeks of a pregnancy. Gov. Cooper, there are bigger challenges to women’s health in North Carolina right now. If Cooper wants to discuss women’s health, then the first thing that must be confronted are the negative impacts of …

What Ruth Bader Ginsburg thought of Roe v. Wade

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By Monica Chen  Although the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has been held up by the pro-choice movement and feminist organizations as an icon of feminism, widely assumed to support Roe v. Wade, what the movements have been ignoring are Ginsburg’s own words on the decision. Ginsburg had strong criticisms of Roe over the decades, and was consistent in her points of criticism. Ginsburg even called the landmark 1973 decision, which legalized abortions nationwide, a “regime.” Her words are now echoed by Justice Samuel Alito’s recent leaked draft opinion to overturn the decision. The Court had “fashion(ed) a regime blanketing the subject, a set of rules that displaced virtually every state law then in force,” Ginsburg wrote forcefully in 1992 in the wake of Planned Parenthood v. Casey. Ginsburg thought Roe took the debate on abortion out of state legislatures — away from the legislative branch of government — and that’s where that debate had been up to that point and should have stayed. According to Politico, Alito wrote in his majority draft …

Roe to be overturned: Reactions in NC

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By Monica Chen Shock and anger were the reactions of many North Carolinians after news broke on Monday night that Roe v. Wade will be overturned. A draft of the majority opinion by Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito had been leaked to Politico. The 1973 landmark decision will be overturned, reverting the issue of abortion back to state legislatures. Protests broke out across the country on Tuesday, including at Moore Square in Raleigh. President Joe Biden also lashed out at the MAGA crowd on Wednesday, calling them “Ultra MAGA.” Vice President Kamala Harris said of Republican lawmakers, “How dare they tell a woman what she can do and cannot do with her own body?” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., in particular had a very strong reaction as she joined protesters in front of the Supreme Court. Pro-life organization N.C. Values Coalition issued a statement on Tuesday. “If Roe and Casey are overturned, as the draft opinion indicates, we must build consensus for the strongest protections possible for unborn children and women in North Carolina, and we …