State and territorial Democratic parties urged Congress to codify abortion protections after a leaked Supreme Court draft opinion showed that the high court would rule to overturn the landmark case of Roe v. Wade.
“Across America, our State Democratic Parties will work tirelessly to recruit, train, and support Democratic candidates for state and federal office who will fight for the right to abortion. We encourage our federal legislators to codify Roe immediately. We cannot and will not wait,” the Democratic parties said in a statement, which was shared by the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party.
The Democratic parties said that many of their members lived in areas where “extremist Republicans” had demolished or overturned abortion access, adding that those members of the GOP “have no business interfering in personal health decisions.”
The state and territorial Democratic parties asserted bans on abortion are “supported by an extremist group of right wing primary voters and donors – and that’s why the GOP continues to fight to restrict abortion access nationally and in our legislatures.”
The signatories of the statement include Democratic parties in all 50 states in addition to Guam, Washington, D.C., and the Virgin Islands.
A leaked Supreme Court draft opinion was published by Politico on Monday. The opinion would eliminate abortion protections at the federal level, leaving the decision up to states.
Justice Samuel Alito wrote the drafted majority opinion.
“We now overrule those decisions and return that authority to the people and their elected representatives,” the opinion draft states.
The draft was composed in February, and has the backing of fellow conservative Justices Clarence Thomas, Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch, according to Politico.
The Supreme Court said in a press release that the draft opinion was “authentic” but noted that “it does not represent a decision by the Court or the final position of any member on the issues in the case.”
Chief Justice John Roberts said a probe into the leaked material would be conducted.
“To the extent this betrayal of the confidences of the Court was intended to undermine the integrity of our operations, it will not succeed. The work of the Court will not be affected in any way,” he said in a statement.
