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29 June 2022
US abortion ruling follows Australia's state model of regulation
The 26 per cent of President Trump’s voters in 2016 who cited Supreme Court appointees as their most important issue were vindicated on Friday when the court ruled to overturn Roe v. Wade. While there has been a strong global reaction to the reversal, Australia itself is a prime example of abortion legislated by states. According to United States Studies Centre polling from 2019 77 per cent of Australians support legalised abortion in all or most cases compared to 54 per cent of Americans. However, abortion was only decriminalised in Australia and considered under medical regulation in its final state, South Australia, in 2021.
The Roe reversal shows the risk of a comprehensive and consistent ruling to cover the whole country. It is vulnerable to the shift in majority opinion of the Supreme Court. Given the trigger laws in 13 states, the Democrats’ singular path toward legislating abortion access now is through Congress.
Getting a filibuster-proof majority remains unlikely on the Hill. As midterms approach, there is a narrow window to attempt to pass federal legislation on abortion, but Democrats risk cashing in their largest get-out-the-vote card in order to make it happen.
NEWS WRAP
Ex-president lunged at security staff
- New claim former president knew protestors were armed | An ex-White House aide revealed former president Donald Trump knew the January 6 protestors were armed and urged them to storm the Capitol. In testimony to the Committee, former aide to Trump’s chief of staff, Cassidy Hutchinson, said the former president also demanded to join the march on the Capitol
himself and physically struggled with his security detail. READ MORE HERE
- Fifty-one migrants die in truck | Fifty-one migrants are dead after they and others were found inside a truck in San Antonio, Texas, in the most fatal people-smuggling incident in the United States. President Biden described the discovery as "horrifying and heartbreaking," saying the deaths underscored the need to go after criminal trafficking rings. READ MORE HERE
- Contraception, same-sex marriage rulings at risk | In a concurring opinion on the Dobbs ruling, Justice Clarence Thomas argued the Supreme Court “should reconsider” its past rulings codifying rights to contraception access, decriminalise gay sex and same-sex marriage. Overturning Roe v. Wade Thomas wrote that the justices “should reconsider substantive due process precedents referring to cases having to do with Americans’ fundamental privacy, due process and equal protection rights”. READ MORE HERE
Supreme Court and Senate clash over gun control | As President Biden signed into law a raft of new gun-safety measures, the first significant legislation to pass in three decades, the Supreme Court struck down New York state's limits on carrying concealed handguns outside the home. READ MORE HERE
Albanese joins NATO summit | Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is holding talks with international leaders ahead of and during the NATO summit this week, and will tell counterparts, including President Biden, that Australia shares a common purpose with NATO, in supporting “democracy, peace, and security and upholding the rule of law, whether it is in this region or ours”. READ MORE HERE
It is important precedent of the Supreme Court that has been reaffirmed many times. It is not as if it is just a run of the mill case that was decided and never been reconsidered, but Casey specifically reconsidered it, applied the stare decisis factors, and decided to reaffirm it. That makes Casey a precedent on precedent.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh in his confirmation hearing talking about Roe | September 2018
A Documentary History of the United States with Alexander Heffner
In an age dominated by terms like fake news and disinformation, what are the facts about the history of the United States? In the updated edition of A Documentary History of the United States, Alexander Heffner revisits primary sources to tell the unvarnished history of the United States – compiling the key documents, speeches, letters, tweets and Supreme Court decisions from the Declaration of Independence to Articles of Impeachment against Donald J. Trump following the January 6 insurrection.
What do we learn from examining these primary sources? Which documents are critical to understand the pandemic and its impact on the United States? What significance do these primary source documents have for Australia?
To discuss these issues, please join us for a webinar event featuring co-author and host of The Open Mind on PBS Alexander Heffner.
WHEN:
SYDNEY | Thursday, 7 July 2022 | 10:00-11:00am AEST
WASHINGTON DC | Wednesday, 6 July 2022 | 8-9:00pm EDT
COST:
Free but registration is essential.
You can also subscribe to have event invitations and reminders sent straight to your inbox, so you never have to miss an event!
Before the Supreme Court officially ruled on Roe v. Wade a draft of the court's opinion by Justice Samuel Alito was leaked to POLITICO sending shockwaves through the United States and beyond.
The statement read: “We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled. The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision …” American women have had the constitutional right to seek an abortion for the past half-century. Now, the future of abortion access in the United States is entirely uncertain.
Together Roe v. Wade (1973) and Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992) state that US states cannot introduce legislation that creates an undue burden for a woman seeking an abortion before the stage of ‘foetal viability’ (normally around 24 weeks). Several challenges to Roe v. Wade have gone to the Supreme Court since Roe first passed in 1973, including Casey. And while some of these cases narrowed the scope of Roe none have come so close to overturning the ruling completely.
On a state level, Republican state-led legislatures have enacted various forms of abortion-restricting legislation at an increasing rate since 2019. Most of these were dismissed by federal courts as being in violation of the US Constitution, until the Texas Heartbeat Act introduced in Texas in May 2021 which was upheld by the US Supreme Court (due to a legal loophole) and set off a cascade of new questions about the state enforcement of pre-viability abortions in the United States.
BY THE NUMBERS
Supreme Court support falls to record low
Americans' confidence in the Supreme Court has reached a new low in Gallup's nearly 50-year trend of polling with 25 per cent of adults saying they have "a great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in the court, down from 36 per cent a year ago.
The poll was taken before the Supreme Court's decision to overturn the Roe ruling. In last year's Gallup polling, Americans opposed overturning Roe by a nearly two-to-one margin.
VIDEO
Wildland: The making of America's fury with The New Yorker's Evan Osnos
The January 6 hearings are highlighting a dark moment in the nation's history when thousands of Americans stormed the US Capitol in an attempt to overthrow the presidential election result. Now women are marching on the streets to protest against the Supreme Court overruling the Roe v. Wade decision, which now makes abortion illegal in many states. The United States is far from united.
To discuss what has led to this moment of division and what can be done about it, the United States Studies Centre hosted a discussion with Evan Osnos, National Book Award and Pulitzer prize-winning author of Wildland: The Making of America’s Fury in conversation with USSC Non-Resident Senior Fellow Dr Charles Edel.
Catch more analysis on the United States on the USSC YouTube channel.
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University of Sydney NSW 2006
