Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that has federally safeguarded abortion rights for almost 50 years is in danger of being overturned, according to a draft ruling that was leaked to POLITICO on May 2. The Supreme Court has confirmed the draft is authentic.

POLITICO called the draft opinion “a full-throated, unflinching repudiation of the 1973 decision which guaranteed federal constitutional protections of abortion rights and a subsequent 1992 decision — Planned Parenthood v. Casey — that largely maintained the right.”

Locally, reproductive rights advocates are organizing a rally at 5 pm Tuesday, May 3, at the Wayne Morse Federal Courthouse, 405 E. 8th Avenue.

In the draft opinion, Associate Justice Samuel Alito writes that “Roe and Casey must be overruled.” 

He then goes on to cite 17th century English law in regard to the “quickening” of a child and its “murder. ” (It’s worth noting here that in the 17th-century women were still strapped to a ducking stool for being “scolds.”)

The event has been posted on Facebook and Reddit.  Gwendolyn Iris, the creator of the Facebook event called, “Rally for Womb Rights: We Will Never Go Back,” tells Eugene Weekly that when she heard about the leaked document, “I was just numb,” and when she woke up in the morning with her stomach in knots, “I knew I had to do something to redirect my mind.”

So she created the Facebook event page and organized for a PA system. Iris encourages people to bring signs and materials for sign making, if possible.

She says, “After I had my son, I had an abortion. I had two children at that point and in order to give them the best quality of life I had to make that very hard decision. It was hard for me, but it was the best decision for my family, and the idea of anyone anywhere in our country, not having the same option is just sickening to me.”

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