The Supreme Court’s decision on Roe v. Wade is not final, but the draft language is causing concern. Many fear other constitutional rights could be jeopardized by the potential legal precedent.
NBC 7 spoke with a local attorney about the potential implications of overturning Roe.
“The document is not a final decision of the court,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said Thursday.
After days of protests from the steps of the Supreme Court to downtown San Diego, many are wondering what will happen next.
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If the court follows through on the leaked draft opinion that overturns Roe V. Wade, many including President Joe Biden are warning that the conservative court could unravel other privacy rights like contraception and same-sex marriage.
“I’m not a big conspiracy theorist but the idea that if things can only be legal because they were always legal, we lose a lot of things. And certainly, my right to be married to my wife gets washed away in that sort of panic,” San Diego attorney Tristan Higgins said.
Higgins also owns diversity and inclusion consultant company Metaclusive. She said this issue goes beyond abortions rights.
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“The joke has always been if men could get pregnant, abortion would be a fundamental right so the idea that any person who was pregnant is not able to make the choice themselves, is ridiculous and it really leads us back to inequality,” Higgins said.
Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the opinion that a right to abortion is not deeply rooted in the nation’s history and traditions.
His draft also states that the court is only targeting the right to abortion, not other matters.
Higgins said if people don't like the ruling, they should take it up at the ballot box.
“The Supreme Court is inviting us to do that,” Higgins said. “They are saying we are returning this to the will of the people and the will of the people is usually expressed at the ballot box.”
Overturning Roe would not outlaw abortion but would leave it up to state legislatures to decide whether there should be restrictions.
If the law changes, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said the DOJ will address appropriate next steps but will not change its commitment to defending the rights of women and all Americans.
