President Barack Obama reacted Tuesday to the leak of a draft opinion from the Supreme Court suggesting it would rule to overturn Roe v. Wade.
The president followed the argument made by many pro-abortion activists in a 719-word statement released to reporters, warning that Americans would face the loss of their personal rights to privacy if Roe v. Wade was overturned.
“[W]hat Roe recognized is that the freedom enshrined in the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution requires all of us to enjoy a sphere of our lives that isn’t subject to meddling from the state,” he wrote, warning that the federal government could ultimately meddle with “personal decisions involving who we sleep with, who we marry, whether or not to use contraception, and whether or not to bear children.”
The draft opinion by Justice Samuel Alito addresses that false argument by specifying that the decision in Roe was different — because abortion involves a choice in taking a human life.
Obama’s statement featured a loquacious defense of the leftist view of the Supreme Court, that it did not have the right to overturn abortion rights.
The former president said the draft opinion removed the “constitutionally recognized interest” of “folks” who wanted to make decisions about whether or not to have an abortion.
“The consequences of this decision would be a blow not just to women, but to all of us who believe that in a free society, there are limits to how much the government can encroach on our personal lives,” he wrote.
Obama expressed concern that poor people would face the brunt of any future decision by the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade.
“Illegal abortions,” he warned, would “inevitably pose grave risks to their health, their future ability to bear children, and sometimes their lives.”
Obama warned about supporters of Roe v. Wade growing complacent with the court’s decisions on abortion, reminding them of the people who would suffer as a result.
“[S]ome of those who support Roe may feel helpless and instinctively turn back to their work, or families, or daily tasks—telling themselves that because this outcome may have been predictable, there’s nothing any of us can do,” he said.
The former president argued women deserved “the dignity and freedom of making a decision that is right for their bodies and their circumstances.”
“You might be one of those people,” he said. “Or you might know some of them by name.”
He urged Americans to join pro-abortion activists to protest and work in local politics to stop the pro-life movement’s momentum.
“[I]n the end, if we want judges who will protect all, and not just some, of our rights, then we’ve got to elect officials committed to doing the same,” he wrote.