WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) – Democrat Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi on Monday extolled the “righteous anger” of pro-abortion activists protesting a potential Supreme Court reversal of Roe v. Wade despite the fact that those protests include descending on the private homes of sitting justices.
Last week, Politico published a leaked draft of a majority opinion by conservative Justice Samuel Alito for Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which concerns Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban. The draft declares that “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start,” and therefore it is “time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.” In response, the Court announced the draft was authentic but “does not represent a final decision by the court or the final position of any member on the issues in the case.”
It remains unclear whether the draft represents a final decision to overturn Roe, is a tentative decision subject to change, was prepared in anticipation of a majority to overturn, or was written in hopes of persuading Alito’s colleagues to sign on. Regardless, the leak has sent shockwaves across the political spectrum, with pro-lifers tentatively rejoicing, pro-abortion politicians and activists lashing out in anger, and many speculating that the leak may have been intended to pressure judges to flip their votes, or to incite hatred and threats against them.
Among the reactions was a pro-abortion group calling itself Ruth Sent Us that organized “walk-by protests” at the “homes of the six extremist justices,” and published a map containing the justices’ homes. Outgoing White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki refused to criticize the protests.
“While we have seen and heard extraordinary anguish in our communities, we have been moved by how so many have channeled their righteous anger into meaningful action: planning to march and mobilize to make their voices heard,” Pelosi added Monday, Newsweek reported.
Pelosi, who identifies as Catholic despite supporting effectively-unlimited legal abortion, went on to stoke that anger by calling the prospect of overturning Roe the “culmination of Republicans’ decades-long crusade against women’s fundamental freedoms,” and claiming that “once Republicans have dispensed with precedent and privacy in overturning Roe, they will take aim at additional basic human rights.”
The speaker has yet to condemn the targeting of justices’ homes, nor has she commented on pro-abortion protests of Catholic churches, or reports of threats to churches.
On Monday evening, legislation unanimously passed the Senate to give the Supreme Court “security-related authorities equivalent to the legislative and executive branches,” expanding the existing protection afforded justices to their families. The bill now moves to Pelosi’s House of Representatives for consideration.
If Alito’s opinion does prove to be the Supreme Court’s final decision, its ramifications will be drastic. More than 20 states currently have laws on the books that would effectively ban abortion within their borders upon Roe’s fall, from pre-Roe</i abortion bans that went unenforced to “trigger laws” designed not to take effect until a ruling like today’s. In those states, abortion would become illegal as soon as the ruling is issued.
More than a dozen other states plus the District of Columbia have laws on the books legally protecting abortion, at least three of which explicitly codify the practice as a “right.” Abortion would remain legal in those jurisdictions, as well as the remaining states that have not spelled out abortion’s status one way or another, but without Roe state residents would have the power to vote on the issue for themselves, or lobby their elected representatives to change the law in either direction. Pro-lifers in Congress could pursue a nationwide abortion ban as well.