Contraception, Other Privacy Issues At Risk, Legal Experts Warn
The privacy language framed in the Supreme Court draft abortion opinion raised red flags for lawyers and Democratic lawmakers, who warn that the same arguments could be used to roll back access to birth control, gay marriage and other such protections.
Modern Healthcare:
Supreme Court Abortion Draft Creates Tangle Of Issues For Big Hospital Systems
If Roe v. Wade is overturned, health systems, hospitals, physician groups and clinics that work across state lines would have to navigate a confusing patchwork of state laws that pose an array of legal and ethical dilemmas. Multistate organizations may wind down some obstetrics services as a result, limiting access and reducing the already relatively low quality of maternal care. "It is going to create significant confusion among providers, especially those who work in multiple jurisdictions," said Mark Silberman, chair of the white collar, government investigations and regulatory practice compliance group at the law firm Benesch. (Goldman and Kacik, 5/3)
The Washington Post:
Democrats Push To Ensure Women Get Free Birth Control Promised By ACA
Senate Democrats launched a new push Tuesday to ensure that women can obtain the free birth control required by the Affordable Care Act, framing the policy as imperative if the Supreme Court should move to strike down abortion rights, as is widely expected after a draft ruling leaked Monday night. Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who chair the health and finance panels respectively, said they were opening an investigation into complaints that health insurers are denying patients’ requests for birth control and forcing them to pay out of pocket. (Diamond, 5/3)
The Hill:
Democrats Warn Repealing Roe Could Erode Host Of Privacy Rights
Democratic policymakers are sounding the alarm that a Supreme Court decision to repeal Roe v. Wade would trigger a domino effect resulting in the erosion of court-sanctioned liberties extending well beyond abortion rights. Because the Roe decision hinged on the argument that women have a constitutional right to privacy, the Democrats warn rescinding those protections would threaten other freedoms resting on a similar legal basis, including the right to gay marriage, consensual sexual activity, parental independence and access to birth control. (Lillis, 5/3)
USA Today:
Abortion Draft Opinion Fallout: Could Rights To Same-Sex Marriage, Contraception Be Next?
Whenever the Supreme Court hands down its final ruling in this year's blockbuster challenge to Roe v. Wade, the bulk of the decision will be focused on interpreting what the Constitution says – or doesn't say – about abortion. But lurking just below the surface of that already fraught debate are questions about other rights experts say could be implicated if the high court overturns its landmark Roe decision, including access to contraception and the legality of same-sex marriage. (Fritze, 5/3)
The Washington Post:
Speculation On Same-Sex Marriage Surrounds SCOTUS Abortion Draft
A leaked draft opinion suggesting that the Supreme Court will eradicate the national right to abortion has set off a wave of conjecture that the justices could also roll back the right to same-sex marriage, erasing decades of activism by the LGBTQ community. The speculation was prompted by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.’s narrow interpretation of what constitutes a fundamental right and his repeated references to the idea that any right not mentioned in the Constitution must be “deeply rooted in this Nation’s history and tradition” to be recognized. (Iati, 5/4)
Los Angeles Times:
Where Roe Went Wrong: A Sweeping New Abortion Right Built On A Shaky Legal Foundation
Roe vs. Wade, the Supreme Court’s best-known decision of the past 50 years, is also its most endangered precedent.It gave women a nationwide legal right to choose abortion, but the backlash reshaped the nation’s politics. The landmark ruling now faces being overturned by conservative justices appointed by Republican presidents to do just that.What went wrong with Roe? Why did the court’s effort to resolve the abortion controversy in 1973 lead instead to decades of division? Legal scholars and political scientists point to major missteps at the start that left the decision vulnerable. (Savage, 5/3)
From corporate America —
Axios:
Abortion Challenges Corporate America's Political Activism
The Supreme Court's forthcoming abortion ruling will put Corporate America in a vise, squeezed between employees pressuring companies to speak out and state governments that might punish them if they do. Companies have gotten significantly more outspoken on a host of political and social issues. Abortion was a tougher one to begin with, and a Supreme Court ruling striking down Roe v. Wade is likely to come just as big corporations are growing more afraid of how much their activism can cost them. (Markay and Peck, 5/4)
Bloomberg:
Levi’s Calls On Businesses To Protect Abortion Access
In a statement, apparel maker Levi Strauss & Co. encouraged corporations to “act to protect the health and well-being of our employees. That means protecting reproductive rights.” The company pointed to research findings that women who have access to safe and legal abortion are more likely to stay in the workforce and less likely to fall into poverty. “Protecting access to the full range of reproductive health care, including abortion, is a critical business issue,” the San Fransisco-based company said. “Efforts to further restrict or criminalize that access would have far-reaching consequences for the American workforce, the U.S. economy and our nation’s pursuit of gender and racial equity.” (5/3)
CNBC:
Disney, Walmart, Big Companies Silent On High Court's Abortion Draft
As protesters gathered and politicians scrambled to speak out, the country’s largest corporations remained largely silent Tuesday after a leaked draft of a Supreme Court decision indicated that conservative justices are poised to overturn a landmark ruling that guarantees access to legal abortions. Dozens of companies, including Walmart, American Airlines and Disney, have yet to issue statements or respond to CNBC requests for comment. The Business Roundtable, a trade group that’s made up of top CEOs, said in a statement that it “does not have a position on this issue.” Microsoft, JPMorgan and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce all declined to comment. (Repko and Feiner, 5/3)
