Watch: Legal analyst warns the Supreme Court has just unleashed ‘legal chaos’
Speaking on CNN this Friday, legal analyst Steve Vladek addressed the questions about both the immediate and long term implications of the Supreme Court's 6-3 ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade, determining that the Constitution does not guarantee a right to abortion.
The conservative-dominated court overturned the landmark 1973 abortion decision that enshrined a woman's right to an abortion, saying that individual states can now permit or restrict the procedure themselves.
"The Constitution does not confer a right to abortion; Roe and Casey are overruled; and the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives," the court said.
Vladeck says other rights to contraception and same sex marriage could also possibly be at risk, according to the concurrent opinion of Justice Clarence Thomas, adding it's hard to take seriously Justice Samuel Alito's opinion that the Friday ruling doesn't necessarily pose a risk to other rights.
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CNN senior legal analyst Laura Coates agreed, saying that the Supreme Court's ruling will spark "legal chaos."
"You're going to have interstate battles about how you're going to enforce these laws," she said, adding that there have been examples from history where "wrongly decided decision" have been overturned.
"...I can't help but wonder, how do you intend for these laws to be enforced?" Coates continued. "Is there no doctor-patient confidentiality provision any longer? ... Are you going to be able to have access to medical records or interrogate people in the office of the receptionist or the doctor about someone's menstruation? The womb is actually the site of the so-called crime, so whatever law would be enforced would have to be intrusive and invasive in trying to figure out what has happened there."
The ruling represents a victory of 50 years of struggle against abortion by the religious right but the anti-abortion camp is expected to continue to push for an outright nationwide ban.
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The ruling was made possible by the nomination of three conservative justices to the court by former Republican president Donald Trump -- Neil Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.
The case before the court was a Mississippi law that would restrict abortion to 15 weeks but during the hearing of the case in December several justices indicated they were prepared to go further.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, 13 states have adopted so-called "trigger laws" that will ban abortion following the move by the Supreme Court.
Ten others have pre-1973 laws that could go into force or legislation that would ban abortion after six weeks, before many women even know they are pregnant.
Women living in states with strict anti-abortion laws will either have to continue with their pregnancy, undergo a clandestine abortion or obtain abortion pills, or travel to another state where the procedure remains legal.
Watch the segment below or at this link.
With additional reporting by AFP
NOW WATCH: Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade in sweeping setback to reproductive rights
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