When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, it claimed to be removing the judiciary from the abortion debate. In reality, it simply gave the courts a macabre new task: deciding how far states can push a patient toward death before allowing her to undergo an emergency abortion.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit offered its own answer, declaring that Texas may prohibit hospitals from providing “stabilizing treatment” to pregnant patients by performing an abortion—withholding the procedure until their condition deteriorates to the point of grievous injury or near-certain death.
The ruling proves what we already know: Roe’s demise has transformed the judiciary into a kind of death panel that holds the power to elevate the potential life of a fetus over the actual life of a patient.
Or a strong supreme court interpretation that argues that bodily autonomy is a fundamental right and already implied by the 1st, 3rd (if you consider your body to be a house) and 4th amendments (if you consider searching a uterus unreasonable). It is also EXPLICIT in the 5th amendment. Fetuses are not legally considered persons by any jurisdiction (otherwise they could be claimed as dependents) so the life of the person gestating them is protected while the life of the fetus is not. This interpretation is not very popular.
I looked it up this morning re: jurisdictions recognizing fetuses.
At present, Georgia recognizes a fetus as a dependent on state tax returns.
Virginia and Texas are mulling bills to recognize a fetus as a passenger in a carpool lane.
Brandi Bottone sued in Texas over the carpool lane issue in 2022. She succeeded in getting the citation dismissed. I believe she was making this argument to show the stupidity of Texas law, and came out victorious in court because Texas couldn’t change course on the narrative.
Anywho, little by little, chip by chip, state legislatures are indeed taking steps to total erosion of bodily autonomy.
As to the notion of a strong supreme court, that’s decades away as things presently stand.
Gotta impeach Thomas and nullify the appointments of Barrett, Kavanaugh, and Gorsuch because the president who appointed them was illegitimate. Problem solved!