Overturning Roe v. Wade 'not humane,' says D.C. congressional candidate
Wendy Hamilton says she was shocked by leaked draft of U.S. Supreme Court ruling
Wendy Hamilton says she'll fight with whatever power she has to prevent abortion rights from being rolled back across the U.S.
The abortion debate is centre stage in the U.S. after Politico published a leaked draft of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Monday showing that the majority of justices have voted to overturn Roe v. Wade.
If the 1973 ruling is struck down, abortion rights would no longer be constitutionally guaranteed in the U.S., and individual states would be free to pass their own abortion laws.
About two dozen states already have laws, or have promised laws, that would curtail or end abortion access should Roe be struck down.
Chief Justice John Roberts confirmed the draft as authentic in a statement, calling the leak a "singular and egregious breach."
Politico notes the draft decision is not final and that, "justices can and sometimes do change their votes." A final ruling is expected before the end of June.
Soon after the leak, pro-choice and anti-abortion protesters faced off outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington.
Hamilton — an ordained minister and education worker who is running to be a Democratic candidate for Congress in the District of Columbia — was there. Here is part of her conversation with As It Happens guest host Helen Mann.
What was your first reaction when you saw this leaked ruling last night?
I couldn't believe it. It was shock. It was outrage.
I had just gotten home and thought I was going to relax, had taken off my shoes, opened up Twitter, saw Roe v. Wade being overturned trending, put my shoes right back on and headed straight to the Supreme Court because I just couldn't stay in the house at that point.
Tell me about those moments, those hours after you tied on those running shoes and went over to the Supreme Court. What was it like outside that building last night?
I just wanted to be with people who I know were feeling similarly. I didn't have any signs with me. I had nothing.
So it was just groups of people just kind of looking at each other sort of solemnly and that. But as the crowd began to grow, and certainly when pro-life protesters showed up and challenged the rest of the crowd, then it was on and popping. Then the energy started going and we were kind of going toe to toe.
If this draft judgment ultimately gets voted on by the majority of justices on the court, what does it mean for women across the United States?
What it ultimately means is it's up to your state. So depending upon where your states stand, you know, they can put some things in place. I've already seen California. They've already risen up. The governor and some others, they're going to introduce a resolution to codify it [the right to abortion] in California.
But if you're in more conservative states like Alabama and you need an abortion for a health-related issue … you've got to drive 1,100 miles to Illinois to get your health-care needs met. And that's where it's going to be an issue.
And particularly with the maternal health mortality rates in African-American women being sky high. This is [Black] Maternal Health Week. We just passed that for Black women. So you're putting Black women's and women of colour's health at risk by suggesting that [based on] where they might live, they can't get their health-care needs met because of how you might feel about a particular issue.
It's not safe, it's not humane, and it's not going to stand.
How do you think this is going to affect the politics of the United States?
It's really going to show us what we're made of. Honestly, if we are actually going to put our money where our mouths are or where our votes are. And I say that as a Democrat running for office, but for the Democrats in particular.
Right now in the United States, we have a Democratic House, we have a Democratic Senate, and we have the presidency. We have all three houses of government. There is no reason why Joe Biden, my president, couldn't have gotten up this morning and decided that we're going to end the filibuster and we are going to make sure that we codify Roe v. Wade and some other things — voting rights, the Equality Act [for LGBT people].
All of these things that Democrats have promised to make possible for Americans are being held up by the Republican Senators who won't vote for any of them, and the filibuster, the way that it's set up. So it is giving the Democrats an opportunity to step up now and do what they said that they were going to do, because that's what we voted them in to do. This is their moment.
This is President Biden's moment to prove his mettle as a Democratic president who ran on the promises of protecting Roe v. Wade, of getting these human rights laws passed that we're talking about. This is his moment. If he doesn't rise to this challenge, it's going to set us back for decades.
It's not just Joe Biden, though, is it? I mean, [former] president [Barack] Obama once promised to codify this as well and didn't end up pursuing it. So as a Democrat, when you look at the party that you support, do you feel that they've dropped the ball on this for a long time? That they have sort of failed to safeguard abortion rights?
Let me say that no party is perfect. And while I am a Democrat, I run based on policy and who's going to get things done. And so I'm not going to bash one party over the other, because it takes two to tango, right?
So, yeah, absolutely. Obama said he's going to do the same thing, but he had a Republican Congress there. He only had the Democratic House there and Senate for the first part of his presidency. And he was pulling us out of a quagmire that we had just come out of with [former U.S. president George W.] Bush.
It is possible that President Biden's going to face the same circumstances as Obama, and actually have [an] even worse situation and lose both houses. I'm just wondering: You've said you are not going to let this happen, but what can you really do to stop it?
When I say I'm going to stop it, I mean, whatever I can do in my power. Right now, I'm not necessarily in a powerful position in Congress to be able to vote one way or the other.
But I do live here in the District of Columbia, so I have the ability to go down and to advocate, to protest, to show up like I did last night, to online outreach, whatever it takes. I just need to feel like I'm not sitting at home and letting this historical moment pass without lending whatever efforts I can to prevent it from happening.
I'm only one person. But there's power in numbers, and I'm not alone.
Written by Sheena Goodyear with files from CBC News. Interview produced by Chris Harbord. Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.
