Deep Dive into the Dobbs Opinion

Happy Monday, and welcome to the seventeenth edition of Waco Can’t Wait, a progressive newsletter focusing on McLennan County, Texas, and Federal politics. I appreciate y’all’s patience over the past month. In the midst of the world turning upside down, my wife and I have been in the process of moving to a new place. Somewhere there in the middle, we also took a cruise with our family.

I have been very nervous to write this piece due to the gravity of the situation. This extremist Supreme Court has stripped women of a constitutional right that has been in place for almost 50 years. The right to bodily autonomy is no more, and Republican-led state governments have been given carte blanche to carry out a collective assault on women’s reproductive rights.

This is only the beginning. The larger right to marry who you choose, how you have sex, and how you deal with the consequences of that sex is in jeopardy. Justices like Clarence Thomas have suggested we should reconsider all unenumerated rights, which could turn back the clock on LGBTQ+ rights and the right to contraception. In addition to the extreme abortion laws coming down the pike, some states are considering bans on certain forms of birth control and in vitro fertilization.

The Pro-Choice movement has entered a new chapter. While the right to an abortion has been under attack since Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973, this new moment requires us to support our existing abortion care infrastructure, expand access in politically friendly states and municipalities, and fight back in states that have criminally sanctioned abortion. In this piece, I will take a more detailed look at the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization opinion, provide an overview of the state and national landscape, and share how we can advance reproductive rights in Waco.

Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022)

Justice Alito’s Majority Opinion

This case concerns the constitutionality of Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban. This law was challenged by Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which at the time was Mississippi’s only abortion clinic (also known as the Pink House). In light of recent events, Jackson Women’s Health Organization has closed its doors.

This opinion held, in unambiguous words, that “the Constitution does not confer a right to an abortion; Roe and Casey are overruled; and the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their ...