By Heather Morrison
People gathered in front of the Supreme Court Monday night with signs and candles after a report from Politico stated that the nation’s highest court voted to reverse Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 case that legalized abortion nationwide.
“Abortions are healthcare,” a few signs read, according to the Associated Press.
A 7news reporter in DC stated that there had been metal gates put up in front of the Supreme Court after the news broke. As about 100 people gathered, the outlet reported, there were also about a dozen police officers.
Politico published an early draft of Justice Samuel Alito’s majority opinion striking down the 1973 case, which would also reverse a subsequent 1992 case — Planned Parenthood v. Casey — that mostly upheld Roe.
In Massachusetts, access to abortion would largely be maintained if the court’s opinion were finalized.
“Abortion is legal” and “will remain legal in Massachusetts,” Attorney General Maura Healey wrote on Twitter following Politico’s report.
Still, there are 13 states that could ban all abortions if Roe v. Wade is overturned.
Multiple Massachusetts officials spoke out against overturning Roe.
“If the Supreme Court does indeed issue a majority opinion along the lines of the leaked draft authored by Justice Alito, the shift in the tectonic plates of abortion rights will be as significant as any opinion the Court has ever issued,” ACLU of Massachusetts executive director Carol Rose said in a statement. “If Roe falls, more than half the states in the country are poised to ban abortion, and politicians will try to ban abortion nationwide.”
Rep. Katherine Clark, Assistant House Speaker and representative of Massachusetts’ fifth congressional district, called it “devastating,” adding “we will not go quietly.”
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Original story HERE.
