- June 16, 2022
In just a few days, the U.S. Supreme Court could overturn one of the most important landmark decisions in Supreme Court history. The right of women to terminate their pregnancies, and thus their right to bodily self-determination, has been enshrined in Roe v. Wade since 1973 and is now up for dispute. This is suggested by a draft opinion by Justice Samuel Alito leaked to Politico magazine. Should the court follow this ruling and its reasoning, the health consequences for American women would be far-reaching. But even beyond Roe v. Wade, this precedent could have long-term domestic political consequences for the United States. The Supreme Court is in fact already preparing other serious rulings on fundamental social issues that will encounter a climate that has long been polarized, and not just in the case of abortion.
How do the conservative Supreme Court justices justify overturning the landmark ruling on the nationwide right to an abortion after nearly 50 years? What will be the consequences of the expected ruling for affected women? How differently will individual states react to the Supreme Court’s decision? Will the precedent on abortion cause other sociopolitical gains – such as same-sex marriage – to falter? Could the end of the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling be a game changer for the outcome of the Midterm Elections in November? Podcast hosts Julia Friedlander, Atlantik-Brücke, and Stormy-Annika Mildner, Aspen Institute Germany, discuss these questions with Sofia Dreisbach, U.S. correspondent, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and Prof. Dr. Christian Lammert, Institute Director and Co-Head Politics Department, John F. Kennedy Institute at Freie Universität Berlin.
“America’s Choice – Der USA-Podcast” is a German-language podcast on U.S. politics, co-produced by the Aspen Institute Germany and the Atlantik-Brücke. The podcast is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other platforms.
