Caribbean American Legislators Dismayed by Reported USSC Draft Opinion on Overturning Roe v. Wade

NEW YORK, New York – Two Caribbean American legislators have expressed dismay over a reported draft United States Supreme Court opinion that would overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade case that gave women their constitutional right to have an abortion.

Image by Alex Wong/Getty ImagesBrooklyn Democratic Party Chair Assemblywoman,  Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, and Queens Borough President, Donovan Richards, who traces his roots to Jamaica, told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) that they were very disheartened over the news.

According to the publication, Politico, the US Supreme Court majority has voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, which published an initial draft majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito.

It is also the first time in modern history that a draft decision in a pending case has been published.

“The Supreme Court majority decision draft is confirmation of our worst fears come true,” said Bichotte Hermelyn, the daughter of Haitian immigrants, who represents the 42nd Assembly District in Brooklyn.

“This will reverse all of the progress of the last five decades on abortion rights. The threat the decision poses is not just an attack on women’s rights, it’s a blow to democracy. Americans across the political aisle oppose this ruling and support the right to choose.

“As Democrats, we must raise the alarm. We must play offensively. We must unite to ensure every person and family can access safe and affordable abortion. We support the codification of Roe v. Wade and remind all Brooklynites that abortion remains legal,” said Bichotte Hermelyn.

Richards said “the heartless cruelty of this draft ruling is …vicious, hateful, sexist, racist and anti-American.

“After years of Republican-led efforts to callously limit abortion services in direct violation of Roe v. Wade in states like Texas and Mississippi, tens of millions of people who seek the simple, yet fundamental human right to body autonomy will soon see their own reproductive systems under government control,” he said.

“I’m thinking of the millions of lower-income communities and communities of color who have historically lacked equitable abortion access and will be hit the hardest by this potential ruling.

“I’m thinking about the reproductive health advocates who have sounded the alarm about the possibility of this day, and the consequences of making what is often a necessary medical procedure inaccessible and dangerous, only to be scoffed at. For their rights and the rights of all those who believe that what happens with our bodies is our choice and our choice alone, this fight will continue.

““Queens will always unquestionably stand up for the right to choose.  We will always advocate for not just protecting, but expanding what we believe is not just a right under the law, but a fundamental human right.”

Richards said he was urging “in the strongest possible terms our city and state leaders to further ensure equitable abortion access within our borders, as well as the Biden administration and Congress to immediately move to codify the protections Roe v. Wade affords into federal law”.

Politico reported that the draft opinion is “a full-throated, unflinching repudiation of the 1973 decision which guaranteed federal constitutional protections of abortion rights and a subsequent 1992 decision – Planned Parenthood v. Casey – that largely maintained the right.”

“Roe was egregiously wrong from the start,” Politico quoted Justice Alito as writing the document, labelled as the “Opinion of the Court.”

“We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled. It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.”

Politico noted that deliberations on controversial cases have in the past been fluid, stating that justices “can and sometimes do change their votes as draft opinions circulate and major decisions can be subject to multiple drafts and vote-trading, sometimes until just days before a decision is unveiled.

The publication said the draft opinion offers “an extraordinary window into the justices’ deliberations in one of the most consequential cases before the court in the last five decades.