Justice Alito’s reasoning for overturning Roe v. Wade could lead to ‘Handmaid’s Tale’-style anti-feminist laws nationwide, says Rep. Jamie Raskin

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Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin said this week that if Roe v. Wade were to be overturned based on Justice Samuel Alito’s reasoning, it might be an invitation for other laws to be overturned. 

Raskin was discussing the bombshell leak of the Supreme Court’s draft majority opinion on Roe v. Wade during an interview with MSNBC host Rachel Maddow on Monday.

During that interview, Raskin referred to Alito’s writing that “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start,” and his opinion that it is “time to heed the Constitution” and “return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.” 

‘The basic legal claim here is that the word abortion doesn’t appear in the Constitution — and of course, it doesn’t appear in the Constitution,” Raskin told Maddow. 

He went on to say that based on this logic, other laws and precedents protecting women’s reproductive rights might be at risk — for instance, a couple’s right to privacy over whether or not to use birth control . 

“Indeed, the phrase ‘right to privacy’ doesn’t appear in the Constitution. So, this would appear to be an invitation to have, you know, Handmaid’s Tale type anti-feminist regulation and legislation all over the country,” Raskin said. 

“Because abortion’s not mentioned in the Constitution, and presumably there is no right to privacy according to Justice Alito, the legislatures can do whatever they want,” Raskin said, in response to a question from Maddow about what might happen if the GOP were to wrest control of the federal government. 

“If there’s a move on right now to pass a federal law that would categorically prohibit abortion, the only thing stopping them from doing that will be the votes in the House and the votes in the Senate, and the potential veto of the president of the United States,” he added.

Raskin also gave his take on the direction that the SCOTUS was moving in, should its decision comes to pass.

“If [SCOTUS] does go forward with it, I believe that the court will have returned to its historic baseline of being a reactionary conservative institution, to the far right of everything else at the federal level in the government,” he said. 

Protesters on both sides of the issue gathered in a tense face-off outside the Supreme Court building after the draft was leaked.

The overturning of Roe v. Wade could result in abortion becoming illegal in large swathes of the US. There are currently “trigger” laws in 13 states, which would see them swiftly outlaw abortion if the decision is passed.

Meanwhile, Democratic lawmakers are attempting to push a bill that could make Roe v. Wade codified in law.