Supreme Court leak energizes Democrats and Republicans and their bases in midterm election year
CHICAGO (WLS) -- Democrat and Republican politicians and their bases are fired up following the leak of a Supreme Court draft opinion that would see Roe v. Wade overturned.
Justice Samuel Alito's opinion, if enacted as it was written in the leaked first draft, would entirely overturn Roe v. Wade and strip the federally recognized right to an abortion from tens of millions of women nationwide.
Chief Justice John Roberts confirmed the opinion draft is real, but said no final decision in the case has been made. He has ordered an investigation into the document's release.
READ MORE: Chief Justice Roberts confirms authenticity of leaked court draft suggesting Roe could be overturned
President Joe Biden said if Roe v. Wade is overturned, other rights could be next if lawmakers don't act. And in more than a dozen states, if Roe v. Wade is overturned abortion bans will immediately take place.
Illinois has a law in place, signed in 2019, that will keep abortion legal no matter what.
Abortion is already a divisive political issue, though there is more consensus among the U.S. population. According to a recent ABC News/Washington Post poll, 54% of respondents said the Supreme Court should uphold Roe v. Wade and 28% said it should be overturned; 58% of respondents said abortion should be legal in all or most cases while 37% said it should be illegal in all or most cases; and 70% of respondents said the decision about whether a woman can have an abortion should be left to a woman and her doctor, while 24% said it should be regulated by law.
The leaked opinion draft has charged up people on both sides of the political aisle in what is clearly going to be an election year issue.
Abortion rights supporters rallied in downtown Chicago Tuesday afternoon in favor of maintaining reproductive rights for women. Gov. JB Pritzker and other Democrats sounded the alarm.
"It's not just about reproductive rights, every single right that we have that is based on the right of privacy, the foundation of the Roe decision is at risk," said State Rep. Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago).
Two years ago, Gov. Pritzker signed a law expanding abortion rights and preemptively guaranteeing access in Illinois regardless of how the high court eventually rules. But the pending decision is seen as a rallying cry for Democrats in an election year.
"You are going to see marches, you are going to see activism like you haven't seen for quite some time," Pritzker said.
