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SCOTUS overturning Roe
We now have a final Supreme Court decision in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. This is a case in which the petitioners have asked the Supreme Court of the United States to overrule the Court's 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade and the Court's 1992 decision in Planned Parenthood v. Casey.
In both Roe v. Wade and Casey, the Supreme Court held, definitively, that women have a constitutional right to obtain an abortion. The Court has now reversed those prior holdings - and this has required the Court to overrule and repudiate its own precedents. Now, each one of the fifty states can make up its own rules about abortions. There is now no "right", based on the United States Constitution, that would override what a state legislature might decide. Some states, like California, will continue to provide women with the right to obtain an abortion. Other states will declare abortions unlawful and illegal. In fact, some states have already done that.
The Democratic Women of Monterey County agree that Friday's Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade is the culmination of a decades-long, coordinated effort by Republicans across the country to roll back the clock on reproductive rights and restrict access to safe, legal abortions.
Life, liberty, and "the pursuit of happiness" are commonly encompassed in a word that has been beloved by Americans over hundreds of years: "Freedom".
The "original" Constitution is dedicated to the proposition that life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness - human freedom - will not be foreclosed by the national government, and the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution makes abundantly clear that these protections must be provided by the state governments, too, not just the national government.
From the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, Section 1:
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
As MAGA out-of-touch Republicans signal how much further they want to go to ban abortion without exceptions and make it a crime, Democratic leaders in every state are working to defend choice and hold them accountable at the ballot box in November. Now more than ever, it is imperative that we elect leaders of cities, states, and country who align with values that promote choice and freedom.
From the California Democratic Party Platform:
We believe in equality, liberty, and justice for all – the right of a woman to choose her own future; the right to fair treatment in the criminal justice system; the right to death with dignity; the right to equal access for those with disabilities; the right to free speech; and, the right to live without fear of hate crimes or gun violence.
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