May 3, 2022 – With news of a leaked US Supreme Court opinion – the outrage at the leak seems to be garnering more attention than the actual opinion – that is if it is the real opinion. Here are the facts:
If Roe v Wade is overturned, this could be the tip of the iceberg to unravel many other “personal” rights that are not enumerated in the US Constitution. Those rights include: the right to contraception for “married people” which was the focus of the case Griswold v Connecticut in 1965. That case predated the ruling in Roe v Wade in 1973 which allowed women to receive an abortion “without excessive governmental intrusion.”
However there is so much at stake if Roe is overturned. If the current US Supreme Court rules that Roe is no longer the law of the land, upsetting what in legal terms is known as “stare decisis” – meaning already decided and declared to be precedent – what could come next? Gay rights, handicap rights, workers’ rights – there are many rights that have been read through court precedent to “flow” from the US Constitution, and specifically the “Bill of Rights.” Perhaps if ever there was a time to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment for women – now would be the time…
And what about the rights of those who have been raped or molested, what about their rights…what will this court do to protect them? Pregnancy does not happen in a vacuum, there is always another story behind the story. And if women are “forced” to have children they do not want or can’t afford to have – will the states take up the support of all these “unwanted” children from birth to age 18? Will there be enough foster parents available to take on this new influx of births? With the cost of food and clothing now on the rise, will a young mother who is ill-equipped to take on the burden of an extra child be able to manage, or will she be next in line at the already overburdened food pantries or homeless shelters? Maybe another tax on the rich would help alleviate the suffering – suffering which will only beget more crime and poverty if funds are not made available. Or could it be that those who make the law want to keep the poor in a place of desperation, where they are to have children that will be servants of the rich – a new age form of slavery? Or are they meant to serve as reserve workers for the dwindling work-force in the US – to help save the social safety net for older Americans?
For those who say there are no privacy rights in the Constitution – they need to get back to basics. Many a president, business executive, or criminal will claim there is a right to privacy – get a warrant if you want to see my “private” stash of stuff – items they insist are inviolable. So if there is a warrant requirement to see someone’s personal stuff, why wouldn’t there be a right to protect someone’s bodily autonomy? The comparisons on privacy are endless. To say otherwise, is rewriting judicial and legislative history, which is extraordinarily dangerous – because once the erosion of rights and precedent starts – the slope is slippery, and it will be hard to stop the erosion.
The bottom line, common sense tell us that everyone has a right to control their own bodies, what they eat, what they wear and who they marry. If the government sets to change established precedent, one must ask, what will be next? Like pregnancy, things don’t happen in a vacuum, and no court should punish people – mainly women for their choices or situations. To those lawmakers and judges who take issue with established precedent, and the wishes of the majority of Americans, remember: today it may be someone else’s choice that hangs in the balance – tomorrow it may be yours.
Stay tuned for my upcoming book: No Honor, Your Honor – All the Way to the Top – The Fallacy that Justice is “Blind” …but Not if You are a Woman
Copyright, 2022: Mary Kay Elloian, MBA, JD, Esq. All Rights Reserved.
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