Peta-Gaye Lewis
CRJ 200 Constitutional Law
Professor: Margayan
Date: July 3, 2022
Assignment: Opinion Piece
“6:3”
It is said that the United States of America was built on a strong foundation by the Founding Fathers, a Constitution that is entrenched in the American people and an example for many other nations; the America we knew and still know is deemed by many across the world as the land of freedom and opportunity for all. What begs the question is that, is this notion still true, is America still the land of opportunity and freedom? The American Constitution doctrine ensured that power was divided among three governing entities, the Executive branch, Supreme Court, and the Senate. This was done so each of these branches can keep each other in check, power is shared equally, and all laws that were and are being made is based on the Constitution itself and beneficial to the people. As far as it can be seen one of the three branches as taken on all autonomy and is erasing very important precedents.
On June 24th, 2022, the Supreme Court ended the nearly fifty years federal abortion rule. Roe Vs Wade was a landmark decision made in 1973 by the Supreme Court which allowed abortion of any pregnancies to take place during the first two trimester throughout the United States. This fifty-year-old precedent allowed women to have a say over their reproductive right. However, this Supreme court with most of it being majorly conservative has made an autonomous decision to overturn this law which will have devastated effects on American women. This decision that has been made allowed states to move to abolish or keep abortion laws in place.
According to the Associated Press, they quoted the WHO Chief who stated that, “the decision to no longer recognize a constitutional right to abortion was “a setback” that would ultimately cost lives” (AP 6/29/22). In the article Director Ghebreyesus went further to say, “Restricting (abortion) drives women and girls towards unsafe abortions resulting in complications, even death” (AP 6/29/22). These sentiments made by an elite leader of the WHO critics how the supreme court has been ruling outrageously and it goes against the foundation of the Constitution which clearly states that people of this nation have free will, but this ruling clearly undermines it especially for women. This ban will surely cost many unwanted pregnancies even in cases of rape, in one situation that is being played out in the media referring to a current case. According to the Indianapolis Star article published on July 1st, 2022, stated that, “A Dr. Caitlin Bernard, an Indianapolis obstetrician-gynecologist, took a call from a colleague, a child abuse doctor in Ohio. Hours after the Supreme Court action, the Buckeye state had outlawed any abortion after six weeks. Now the doctor had a 10-year-old patient in the office who was six weeks and three days pregnant” (IndyStar 7/1/22). Now, this little girl had to travel across state line to try to have an abortion before Indiana enacts their abortion law because an atrocious crime was committed against her that will ultimately scar her physically and mentally for life. As mothers in this nation, we now must be worried about our daughters being raped and not having a remedy to remove a pregnancy that was not warranted by our child but live with it because the powers that be will not protect women in this society.
On the other hand, not only will this ban on abortion affect women and young girls but he medical practitioners as well. Who are directly being threatened by state officials who will take their licenses and dismantle their practices and even send them to jail. According to the Mississippi governor Tate, he stated repeatedly on Fox News Sunday that, “We have a state board medical licensure which oversees the practice of medicine in our state, and they ensure that any physician that is practicing medicine whether through telemedicine or otherwise practice medicine base upon state law. So, if a physician is attempting to practice medicine in the state of Mississippi, they are violating our law and the state board medical licensure will pull their license from them” (Governor Tate 7/3/22). Therefore, in states like Mississippi and Ohio as a physician you must be extra cautious when dealing with cases of abortion because of the trigger law that went into effect, if you violate them, you are looking at your license to practice medicine being taken away or even jail time.
This decision made by the Supreme Court has tied the hands of our medical practitioners from protecting and saving lives. According to the Bloomberg article published on June 24th, 2022, stated that, “Abortions bans will impact doctors’ treatment of cancer and miscarriages. The Supreme Court’s Decision to overturn Roe v. Wade will have a wide-ranging impact on the treatment of numerous medical conditions and diseases, including care from cancers that occur during pregnancy as well as miscarriages” (Bloomberg 6/24/22). In the article a cancer specialist called Katherine Van Loon stated that, “It puts us in a situation of withholding necessary treatments to preserve a mothers health if we can’t terminate a pregnancy that is interfering with our ability to deliver curative therapy” (Van Loon, Bloomberg 6/24/22). What this illustrates is that these judges have now medical expertise and did not seek any medical advice from the professionals in the field, they just decided solely on political and religious bias and did not take into consideration the fallout of this decision in the first place.
In addition, by eroding this precedent the Supreme Court has infringed on some rights of the people. According to the Constitution the fourteen Amendment states that, “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 the law” (American Constitution 1789). Therefore, by allowing the states to enforce this law on the people is a contradiction to the Constitution hence violating this right of the people (women) to have liberty which is free will to chose what they want to do with their bodies.
Therefore, we cannot look at this law by itself, it has a ripple effect for many other laws or precedent on the books. This is not a one-off decision other laws will be affected in the coming future. According to the Hill, an article published on June 24th, 2022, One of the conservative Justices Clarence Thomas, “called for overturing the constitutional rights to court had affirm for the access to contraceptive and LGBTQ rights in an opinion concurring with the majority to overturn Roe v. Wade” The Hill 6/24/22). In addition to this one-sided opinion, Senator John Cornyn twitted, “Now do Plessy vs Ferguson/Brown vs Board of Education” (Twitter 6/25/22). These two landmark cases showcases what leaders like Martin Luther King was fighting against and fighting for which is equal rights for all, but from the rederick which has being spilling from the conservative right of this nation, is that they want to use the Supreme court to bully us back into a world of inequality, civil war and even a totalitarian state which would ultimately bring the American economy and power in to a true downfall and chaos in this twenty first century. To ensure this nation that is viewed by many as a nation of freedom and abondance of opportunity continues to be that beacon, so whenever the ruling of “6:3” arise from the Supreme Court, we the people need to elect representatives who are of the same sentiments as us and hold them accordingly to what they are doing and saying and that it beneficial to our well-being so they can keep the Supreme Court in check and challenge any ruling that is not beneficial to the American people. Also, we should be using or platforms to fight against any law that erodes our constitutional rights of freedom and privacy not just for our generation but the ones that follow. So that the American Dream can and will be achievable by all who comes here or born here.
References:
https://apnews.com/article/abortion-us-supreme-court-science-health-united-nations
Associated Press, June 29th, 2022
Indianapolis Star, Shari Rudavsky and Rachel Fradette, July 1st, 2022
Bloomberg, Robert Langreth and Ike Swetlitz, June 24th, 2022
The Hill, Harper Neidig, June 24th, 2022
Fox News Sundays, Host Mike Emanuel, July 3rd, 2022
https://mobile.twitter.com/johncornyn/status/1540689961040482306
