President Biden warns the US Supreme Court could go after gay marriage if it overturns abortion rights
"Mark my words: They are going to go after the Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage," the President told reporters on Wednesday 11 May.
Words: Alastair James; pictures: Wiki
President Joe Biden has warned that the US Supreme Court could target gay marriage next if it overturns abortion rights.
It follows a leak of a draft decision from the highest court in America that if actualised would see the historic 1973 Roe vs Wade overturned. A final decision is expected in June.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday (11 May) Biden said the Supreme Court was effectively saying there is no right to privacy with the decision.
“Mark my words”
Biden is reported by CNN to have said: “It’s not just the brutality of taking away a woman’s right to her body … but it also, if you read the opinion … basically says there’s no such thing as the right to privacy. If that holds … mark my words: They are going to go after the Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage.”
He also said the Court could go after legislation regarding contraception.
CNN also reports that Biden, who is a devout Catholic, has said he is opposed to abortion on a personal level, but doesn’t think the government should have a say or impose its views on everyone else.
After the leak, Biden called on voters to support politicians in the upcoming mid-term elections that are pro-choice.
My statement on the reported Supreme Court decision draft. pic.twitter.com/Kt3bP0kzqU
— President Biden (@POTUS) May 3, 2022
Many others have issues similar warnings about the implications the leaked draft decision has for civil liberties such as same-sex marriage.
In the 98-page leaked document obtained by Politico Justice Samuel Alito writes that Roe and Casey (Planned Parenthood v. Casey, 1992) should be overturned as “the Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision.”
Alito has made similar remarks regarding same-sex marriage which was won in a 2015 victory following the Obergefell v. Hodges case.
“In Obergefell v. Hodges the court read a right to same-sex marriage into the 14th Amendment, even though that right is found nowhere in the text,” a statement Alito put his name to reads.
The Attitude May/June issue is out now.
