Supreme Court Draft Opinion Shows Vote to Overturn Abortion Rights, Denver Responds

As people across the country collectively geared up for the final ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which brought Roe v. Wade and its more than 50 years of constitutional protection for abortion rights to the Supreme Court stage, a leaked draft opinion sheds light on the Court’s potential decision. Politico obtained and published the initial draft majority opinion, written by Justice Samuel Alito, on Monday, which indicates the Court will overturn constitutional protection for abortion rights if made final.

Alito writes that Roe and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which in 1992 reaffirmed the right to abortion that Roe established with some restrictions, “must be overruled” in the document, labeled as the “Opinion of the Court.”

“It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives,” Alito writes in the 98-page document.

Alito largely argues that the right to abortion is “not deeply rooted in the Nation’s history and traditions,” so the Supreme Court should not protect it federally.

After the news broke, abortion advocates and community members in Denver were quick to mobilize to protest the draft opinion.

Lawmakers like Julie Gonzales and Leslie Herod joined protesters outside the west side of the Colorado State Capitol Tuesday afternoon. Community activist Karla Gonzales Garcia spoke to the crowd, saying that abortion rights is a racial justice issue, according to a Denver Channel 7 report.

“I myself had an abortion in a country where abortion is illegal: Peru. You have no freaking idea the terror that I had (when I was) on the bed, not knowing if I (were to wake) up … in the minutes after the abortion,” Gonzales Garcia says. “The only thing that (an) unsafe and illegal abortion (does) is kill people.”

She added that, if the Supreme Court chooses to confirm the decision in the draft opinion, “The work that we have done and the work that we collectively will continue to do will matter more than ever.”

After protesting at the Capitol steps, protesters began marching around downtown into the evening. According to 9News, thousands of people showed up for the march, which was the largest gathering on the steps of the Colorado Capitol since the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020.

Politico notes that justices can and sometimes do change their votes as draft opinions circulate, with major decisions subject to multiple drafts and vote-trading, even days before the final decision is unveiled. The Supreme Court’s holding will not be final until it’s published, most likely in the next two months. The publication also notes that no draft decision in the modern history of the court has been disclosed publicly while a case is still pending, and the leak could intensify the current debates around continuing to protect abortion access.

Governor Jared Polis signed HB 22-1279, the Reproductive Health Equity Act (RHEA), into law in April. The legislation takes a crucial step to ensure lawful protections for reproductive rights and abortion access in Colorado. RHEA ensures every individual has the right to choose or refuse contraception; every pregnant person has the fundamental right to choose to continue a pregnancy and give birth or have an abortion; and that a fertilized egg, embryo, or fetus does not have independent rights under Colorado law.

Photo courtesy of ACLU of Colorado on Instagram