Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. In addition to communicating support for the state s 15-week abortion law being heard before the U.S. Supreme Court, the brief asks that the Court overturn the landmark decisions of
Roe v. Wade from 1973
and
.
While many more amicus briefs have come in since then, perhaps none have come from a more high profile figure than former Vice President Mike Pence, who announced that his organization, Advancing American Freedom (AAF), and others, were filing one on Friday.
Townhall was given a first look at the brief as well as a press release announcing the brief.
In the April issue of the conservative journal First Things, the esteemed natural law philosopher John Finnis wrote an essay titled Abortion Is Unconstitutional. Finnis basic argument was that the traditional conservative or originalist stance on abortion and the infamous 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision namely, that the Constitution is silent on the matter and that it is properly an issue for states to decide among themselves is both morally insufficient and legally dubious.
According to Finnis, unborn children are properly understood as persons under the 14th Amendment s equal protection clause, and state-level homicide laws therefore cannot discriminate by protecting live people but not unborn people. The upshot under this logic is that overturning Roe and its 1992 successor Planned Parenthood v. Casey would not merely return abortion regulation to the ambits of the various states, as earlier conservative legal titans such as the late Justice Antonin Scalia long
Pence s advocacy group filed a brief asking the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade.
The Supreme Court agreed in May to hear the case challenging a woman s right to an abortion.
Dozens of conservative groups are supporting Mississippi s ban on most abortions after 15 weeks.
WASHINGTON – A conservative advocacy group launched by former Vice President Mike Pence is wading into a high-profile abortion case at the Supreme Court, arguing the landmark Roe v. Wade decision has contributed to the destabilization of families.
Pence’s group, Advancing American Freedom, is one of dozens of anti-abortion organizations to file briefs in recent days supporting Mississippi’s ban on most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Nearly 230 GOP lawmakers also filed a brief Thursday, calling on the high court to release Roe s vise grip on abortion politics.
12 GOP Governors Ask Supreme Court to Overturn Roe v. Wade
Twelve Republican governors urged the Supreme Court on Thursday to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade landmark ruling, in a major case related to an abortion law in Mississippi.
“The Court’s decisions in Roe and Casey are prime examples of invading an area that has not been committed to the Federal Government and remains reserved to the States,” the amicus brief (pdf) stated, referring to Roe as well as the 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey decision.
It later adds, “Rather than creating a federal constitutional right, the Court should leave regulating abortion to the States, where the people may act through the democratic process. This Court should hold as much and in the process, help restore the constitutional (but currently disrupted) balance between the Federal Government and the States.”
The involves a challenge to a Mississippi law banning abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
The State of Mississippi in 2018 enacted the Gestational Age Act, a state law prohibiting abortion after 15 weeks’ gestation, except in cases of medical emergency. The Jackson Women’s Health Organization, an abortion clinic in Jackson, Miss., sued on the grounds that the law violates the viability standard established by Planned Parenthood v. Casey. The Fifth Circuit Court affirmed the district court’s decision on these grounds.
“The Constitution preserves the rights of the states by specifically enumerating the authority granted to the federal government,” said Ducey in a press release. “Unfortunately, almost 50 years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court decided to ignore the Constitution and created policy which has led to the over-politicization of this issue for decades.”