Weighing in on this week’s leaked draft of a Supreme Court decision that would overturn constitutional protections for abortion rights, Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-11th Dist.) told CNN she was shocked but not surprised.
“This is really breathtaking and…shocking, and yet something we have seen at work for many decades,” Sherrill said of the bombshell opinion, authored by Justice Samuel Alito and obtained by Politico.
The majority opinion, if adopted as written now, would strike down the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision and a 1992 ruling that upheld it.
“It’s always felt in this country like women have been second class citizens. We have fought very hard for every gain we have made..and now we are seeing just those very small gains being rolled back,” said Sherrill, who graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in the first class of women allowed in combat roles.
“We have an incredible amount of work to do,” said the Democrat from Montclair, whose district includes Greater Morristown.
Here is a video clip:
You can’t fundraise on it every election if you codify it in law…
Even Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a staunch supporter of women’s rights, recognized the susceptibility of Roe vs. Wade to come under attack. Ginsburg disagreed with Roe’s base argument that the right to abortion was based on the privacy of a woman with her doctor, and not a violation of equal protection as guaranteed by the Constitution…thats why Alito says the argument was “wrong from the start” and the same reason Ms. Sherrill says women are looked at as second class citizens. All of that said, it will have no impact on NJ as Gov Murphy signed a bill into law guaranteeing women’s autonomy in NJ in Jan.
Ms. Sherrill can’t do anything about the final decision released by the Court. But what she can do immediately, along with any of her 430+ colleagues in the House or 100 colleagues in the Senate, is to propose a bill to immediately codify Roe at the Federal level. Why hasn’t this been done yet?