Students For Life Tennessee Sets The Record Straight On Leaked SCOTUS Opinion

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Press Release –

Students for Life of Southeast Tennessee celebrates what appears to be an imminent Supreme Court victory for basic human rights.

The draft opinion, which was leaked Monday night, shows a majority of Justices, with Justice Alito writing the opinion, voting to overturn Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the two most disastrous decisions in the history of the Court.

We condemn the leak as a breach of the high privacy standards of the court and view the leak as a desperate, last ditch attempt by the radical pro-abortion left to put undue pressure on the Justices to vote differently. 

There has been much discussion and misinformation regarding what the draft actually says. We respond below to set the record straight.

There is concern among some that reversing Roe will impact “privacy rights” like those that were identified in Griswold v. Connecticut (which allowed married couples to acquire contraception) and Obergefell v. Hodges (which legalized gay marriage).

Those who are panicking about privacy, or, simply trying to stir panic among others, are muddying the water by suggesting Roe‘s reversal will have an effect on many other issues.

The language of the draft indicates that the Roe v. Wade decision is hyper-focused on abortion. They are very intentional about distinguishing abortion from an actual issue of privacy because abortion deals with “a critical moral question:” ending a human life. Neither abortion nor privacy appear in the Constitution, yet, in the context of a civilized society, we argue that privacy can’t include ending someone else’s life. Your rights cannot infringe, especially lethally, on someone else’s.

Roe v. Wade itself deviated from its legal foundation in privacy with the 1993 Planned Parenthood v. Casey decision. On page 51 of the draft, it is written, “When Casey revisited Roe almost 20 years later, very little of Roe‘s reasoning was defended or preserved. The Court abandoned any reliance on a privacy right and instead grounded the abortion right entirely on the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause.”

Abortion in the case of sexual assault is another trending topic as tensions swirl regarding Roe‘s future. The consistent messaging of the pro-life movement stands firm…

We don’t issue birth certificates in the United States with a ratings system based on how someone was conceived.

We don’t advocate for prejudice against people based on perceptions of their abilities, sex, race, or parents.

What has been missing in conversations on the so-called exceptions is how children conceived in rape value and see their lives. We see them as valuable, worthy of love, and welcome. Clearly crimes must be fully prosecuted, and women helped. But we mourn as well for the preborn who also suffer.

With the reversal of Roe, the Pro-Life Generation can expect to hear and see “My Body, My Choice” near constantly. That mantra is just as off-base now as it’s always been.

It is 2022. The science of how mammals (i.e. humans) gestate offspring is pretty set in stone. There are two (or more) bodies in play during a pregnancy. Multiple sets of DNA, blood types, body parts, etc. Women should make all decisions concerning their bodies. But that cannot ethically involve killing a human being who resides within it.

The draft decision which looks to reverse Roe says nothing of women’s autonomy. It says that Roe was wrong and states can set their own abortion laws.

Obviously, a major component of people’s ire about reversing Roe is the myth that Americans actually like it in the first place. Our polling has not found that to be true…

More than ever, Millennials and Gen Z want a voice and a vote on abortion. An astonishing 8 in 10 want to vote on abortion policy in their states – UP from 66% last year.

Standing firm in their desire for less abortion, once again 3 out of 4 Millennials and Gen Z want limits with more than 4 in 10 favoring either no abortion at all or abortion limited to the exceptions of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother.

While the economy is the political issue that most concerns a plurality of voters, 1 in 5 say abortion also motivates their vote (19%). (This compares with a recent Associated Press poll that found 13% of Democrats said that abortion was an issue they wanted the federal government to address, up from less than 1% in 2021 and 3% in 2020.)

In fact, after learning more about Roe, almost 6 in 10 oppose Roe’s radical reach, of abortion through all 9 months of pregnancy.

The Public deserves a clear, concise analysis of this draft, free from feigned outrage and malicious disinformation. Students for Life of Southeast Tennessee aims to speak truth in love and to ensure the public is made aware of the evils of abortion.