Abortion Rights Under Siege

The danger posed to Roe v Wade by an unbalanced Supreme Court

The United States Judicial system has come under much scrutiny over the past few years due to the politicization of the court under the Obama, Trump and Biden eras. At present, it looks likely that this issue will come to the fore yet again in the coming days, as the ever-looming spectre of Roe v Wade, rears its head yet again at a particularly fraught moment in US politics.

For those unacquainted with US abortion rights, the story has been a particularly long-fought one that has been in permanent danger of being overruled in the preceding years. The primary issue lies in the way abortion rights were implemented into the American legal system. As they were introduced by way of precedent as opposed to statute.

Precedent allows that the decisions which were made in the past must be followed in subsequent decisions, however, it is also possible to be overruled by the decisions of the higher courts. Whereas, statute allows for the codification and entrenchment of such positions into the legal system of the country by way of legislation.

With an issue as great as abortion rights, in a nation with a large evangelical community, the folly of the prior decision seems to be coming to the fore in recent years.