A Dangerous New Era - The Washington Post Editorials

Moreover, as Justices Stephen G. Breyer, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor noted in a dissent, the court’s ruling enables Congress to ban abortion across the country, even in cases of rape or incest. This will become a vicious internecine legislative war that, given the right political circumstances, could result in the wholesale abridgment of rights that should be considered basic. This prospect contradicts the majority’s insistence that it is merely returning the abortion question to the states. The court’s audacious attack on abortion rights raises questions about the future of other legal guarantees, including same-sex marriage, access to contraception and even interracial marriage. These guarantees are based on concepts of individual rights of the sort the court majority has now disregarded. Friday’s ruling was another reminder, for a country that needs no more, that Americans cannot take for granted the freedoms they enjoy. Their decisions, particularly how and whether they vote, can have direct, dramatic and negative consequences for their lives. A decades-long conservative crusade to nullify federal abortion rights has now succeeded, because Senate Republicans underhandedly stacked the court with justices who have proved to be disastrously intemperate. This tragic moment should wake Americans to reality: They must defend their rights, or they are liable to lose them. ~A Dangerous New Era - The Washington Post Editorials https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/06/24/overturning-roe-dangerous-era/