April 26, 2024
DULUTH, Ga. – A draft opinion that suggests the U.S. Supreme Court may be poised to strike down the 1973 Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion has triggered jubilation among Georgia’s evangelicals.
“This news is too exciting not to celebrate,” said Suzanne Guy, president and founder of the Georgia-based group Life Initiatives and Values and a member of First Baptist Church of Woodstock. “I go between crying and thanking Jesus.”
A decision to overrule Roe would lead to abortion bans in roughly half the states and could have huge ramifications for this year’s elections. But, as The Associated Press reported, it’s unclear if the draft represents the court’s final word on the matter — opinions often change in ways big and small in the drafting process.
The AP report pointed out that the leak of the draft opinion late Monday represents an extremely rare breach of the court’s secretive deliberation process.
“Roe was egregiously wrong from the start,” the draft opinion states. It was signed by Justice Samuel Alito, a member of the court’s 6-3 conservative majority who was appointed by former President George W. Bush.
The document was labeled a “1st Draft” of the “Opinion of the Court” in a case challenging Mississippi’s ban on abortion after 15 weeks, a case known as Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. Georgia has a similar “heartbeat law” that’s tied up in the courts.
Justices are expected to rule on the Mississippi case before its current term ends in late June or early July.
“I’m prayerfully optimistic that the opinion of the court as outlined in this first draft will indeed be the opinion of the court when the final draft is released,” said W. Thomas Hammond, executive director of the Georgia Baptist Mission Board. “It’s heart-wrenching to think that since the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, more than 63 million babies have been tragically aborted in the United States. It appears that an end to legalized abortion appears to be in sight. I urge Georgia Baptists to continue praying for God to bring this tragic period in American history to an end. Now isn’t the time to let up.”
Guy, echoing sentiments of other pro-life advocates, said the leak of the draft opinion appears to have been an effort to pressure justices to reconsider their conclusions.
“This is absolutely unbelievable,” she said. “My guess is it had to be someone on the pro-abortion side leaked this in an attempt to intimidate the justices, because someone on the sanctity of life side would not want to jeopardize this opinion. There are so many ramifications. I pray our justices stay strong and this opinion holds.”
The AP said the draft opinion in effect states there is no constitutional right to abortion services and would allow individual states to more heavily regulate or outright ban the procedure.
“We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,” it states, referencing the 1992 case Planned Parenthood v. Casey that affirmed Roe’s finding of a constitutional right to abortion services but allowed states to place some constraints on the practice. “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.”
The leak jumpstarted the intense political reverberations that the high court’s ultimate decision was expected to have in the midterm election year, the AP reported. Already, politicians on both sides of the aisle were seizing on the report to fundraise and energize their supporters on either side of the hot-button issue.
Mike Griffin, a legislative agent for the Georgia Baptist Mission Board, said if the leaked draft accurately reflects the majority opinion, the abortion debate will shift to state governments.
"Overturing of Roe will not end the fight over abortion," he said. "It will just heighten the importance of states standing up for the life of the unborn. We will need to be more vigilant than ever on a state level.”
