«En avgjørelse som vil transformere amerikansk liv», skriver New York Times, etter at høyesterett fredag avsa den lenge ventede dommen Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
I dommen tar det konservative flertallet i høyesterett et voldsomt oppgjør med den dommen som siden 1973 har hindret delstatene i å vedta forbud mot abort. I sammendraget sammenligner flertallet Roe v. Wade med den beryktede avgjørelsen Plessy v. Ferguson, som i 1896 slo fast at rasesegregering ikke var i strid med grunnloven, en dom høyesterett senere tok avstand fra:
«Like the infamous decision in Plessy v. Ferguson, Roe was also egregiously wrong and on a collision course with the Constitution from the day it was decided. Casey (en oppfølgende dom, red.anm.) perpetuated its errors, calling both sides of the national controversy to resolve their debate, but in doing so, Casey necessarily declared a winning side. Those on the losing side—those who sought to advance the State’s interest in fetal life—could no longer seek to persuade their elected representatives to adopt policies consistent with their views. The Court short-circuited the democratic process by closing it to the large number of Americans who disagreed with Roe. Pp. 43–45.
Dommerne går videre til å slakte rettskildebruken i Roe v. Wade:
«Without any grounding in the constitutional text, history, or precedent, Roe imposed on the entire country a detailed set of rules for pregnancy divided into trimesters much like those that one might expect to find in a statute or regulation. See 410 U. S., at 163–164. Roe’s failure even to note the overwhelming consensus of state laws in effect in 1868 is striking, and what it said about the common law was simply wrong. Then, after surveying history, the opinion spent many paragraphs conducting the sort of factfinding that might be undertaken by a legislative committee, and did not explain why the sources on which it relied shed light on the meaning of the Constitution.
(...)
Abortion presents a profound moral question. The Constitution does not prohibit the citizens of each State from regulating or prohibiting abortion. Roe and Casey arrogated that authority. The Court overrules those decisions and returns that authority to the people and their elected representatives.»
Den konkrete saken dreide seg om en lov vedtatt i Mississippi i 2018, som forbyr abort etter uke 15. Ifølge New York Times er det ventet at rundt halvparten av statene i USA vil vedta innskrenkninger i retten til abort som følge av avgjørelsen. Kjernen i Roe v. Wade var at grunnloven forbød statene å innskrenke retten til abort fram til det tidspunktet fosteret vil kunne overleve utennfor livmoren, for tiden beregnet å være uke 23.
Justisministeren i staten New York. Letitia James, varsler i en pressemelding at New York nå vil vedta lover som gjør det lettere fra kvinner i andre stater å kommet til New York for å få utført aborter.
Hele dommen finner du her: Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
De tre gjenværende liberale dommerne i amerikansk høyesterett stemte mot.
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