Abortion, Labor Laws, Contraception, Gun rights , Gay rights, and more, on the table

Broken Constitutional Laws Create Crisis in US as More Rights Expected to Be Overturned

New Court Eager to Achieve Numerous Roll-Backs of Constitutional Rights

Diane Lilli
Posted

Legally, if unborn rights are recognized in the US, every state will have the legal authority to track pregnant women, stop them from terminating their pregnancy; enact powerful laws that give doctors the power to strongly control pregnant women; extend powers to husbands or partners that can claim separate rights for unborn children and stop a pregnant woman from traveling or moving to another state, and more.

The new anti-abortion laws in almost half of US states will now open the doors to legally arrest and prosecute women, resulting in imprisonment with a possible death penalty as a murderer. 

The Supreme Court rulings, by their majority, are often the result of politics, since a sitting President will place his own party's beliefs via the choice of a new Justice when there is an open seat.

Part 1 of a Series

As constitutional rights are now being erased, the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) is leading the way to ignore over 50 percent of US citizens' views.  But, the US is nothing like other countries in their Supreme Court, which instead use a more Democratic way of choosing Justices and courts, and not a political majority to choose their federal laws.

Let's look at this major revoking of the constitutional right to abortion from a legal point of view.

Like the Wicked witch of the West, the separation of church and state has melted. We are now standing in the puddle of a religious Supreme Court that has all eyes on more constitutional rights to overturn.

Just like abortion was a constitutional right for almost 50 years, travel is a constitutional right as well. Gay marriage and same-sex love or sex are also being eyed by the religious Justices, who do not follow the US constitution's mandate for separation of church and state. The first clause in the Bill of Rights is  that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” 

Since it’s a stark reality that SCOTUS may also overturn this right for pregnant women who seek an abortion in a different state, where it is legal, we need to create a legal battle plan to protect pregnant women in about nineteen states.

Shades of The Handmaid’s Tale, a 1985 Dystopian novel by Margaret Atwood about a future America imprisoning women in order to force pregnancies in a country of female slavery, are sending ripples of fear from coast to coast.

In the US, constitutional rights can be eliminated, as in this SCOTUS Roe V. Wade example, where religious views against abortion among Supreme Court Justices prevailed. Now we must face the lies of some Justices recently appointed, who are puffed up with power as they face more radically religious decisions.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the Supreme Court’s justice who cast the pivotal vote on abortion, claimed states would not outlaw pregnant women from traveling to states where abortion is legal, since it’s a “constitutional right”, in spite of his overturning the constitutional right to abortion just a day earlier.

In his concurring opinion of the Roe V. Wade decision, Kavanaugh said, “May a state bar a resident of that state from traveling to another state to obtain an abortion?” In my view, the answer is no based on the constitutional right to interstate travel.”

But let’s be real. Justices Kavanaugh and Gorsuch were approved as Supreme Court Justices, after testifying under oath they would not attempt to overturn Roe V. Wade. Senator Joe Manchin was one of two Democrats who cast pivotal votes approving both justices.

"I trusted Justice Gorsuch and Justice Kavanaugh when they testified under oath that they also believed Roe v. Wade was settled legal precedent and I am alarmed they chose to reject the stability the ruling has provided for two generations of Americans," Manchin said.

Although penalties vary from state to state, individual states can now enact laws that would charge abortion providers with felony charges that include prison time, fines, and revocation of their medical licenses. It is expected by many legal experts that mass surveillance, which would include texts and other methods, would ‘out’ women seeking abortions in other states, their providers, and anyone helping them.

Methods may include geofence warrants, that use data about a pregnant women’s location; social media; medical apps; keywords from online searches, and more.

Recent legal cases, prior to the new overturn of legal abortion, show prosecutions of pregnant women, and are a strong indication of what’s to come from states banning abortion.

From 2006 through 2020, during legal-abortion years, the non-profit National Advocates for Pregnant Women reported over 1,300 were arrested, detained, or prosecuted in legal cases related to their pregnancies, including abortions. 

In a 2015 case, Purvi Patel was sentenced to twenty years in prison for “feticide” (the act of killing a fetus), and neglecting her child after self-inducing an abortion.

Authorities in one case that resulted in the defendant being sentenced to twenty years, used text messages with her friend that included information about Patel’s prescription order for legal abortion medications, as part of their evidence leading to her conviction.

In a 2017 case in Mississippi, a mother of three children was indicted for second-degree murder, after she had a stillbirth. 

With the Roe V. Wade decision, SCOTUS has a clear path to fulfill their ultimate dream of legally giving unborn fetuses full human rights, under the 14th Amendment.

Legally, if unborn rights are recognized in the US, every state will have the legal authority to track pregnant women, stop them from terminating their pregnancy; enact powerful laws that give doctors the power to strongly control pregnant women; extend powers to husbands or partners that can claim separate rights for unborn children and stop a pregnant woman from traveling or moving to another state, and more.

The new anti-abortion laws in almost half of US states will now open the doors to legally arrest and prosecute women, resulting in imprisonment with a possible death penalty as a murderer. 

If the 14th amendment is passed where unborn fetuses will have rights, then travel, and the right for all women to enjoy the freedom of movement as a foundational right, is in jeopardy, particularly under the conservative, religious, current Supreme Court.