More Than 200 GOP Members of Congress Call on Supreme Court to Overturn Roe v. Wade

More than 200 members of Congress called on the Supreme Court to reconsider the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide, CNN reports.

More than 160 House members and 39 senators, nearly all of whom are Republican, signed on to an amicus brief filed on Thursday by anti-abortion group Americans United for Life as part of a lawsuit challenging Louisiana’s abortion access law.

Most Congressional Republicans signed on to the brief, as did Democratic Reps. Collin Peterson of Minnesota and Dan Lipinski of Illinois.

Brief assails Roe decision:

"Roe's jurisprudence has been haphazard from the beginning,” the brief argued, claiming the decision "remains a radically unsettled precedent" that "has been substantially undermined by subsequent authority.”

The brief argues that court rulings since the decision "clearly did not settle the abortion issue” and urged the court to "reconsider those precedents."

The group told CNN that "there is no expectation that this case will overturn Roe v. Wade."

"However, the court has the opportunity to reconsider the cases that have come before this case and in particular related to the workability of Roe and other precedents," they said.

ACLU blasts brief:

"The brief is no surprise because anti-abortion politicians have always either taken direct aim at Roe v. Wade or attempted to push abortion access out of reach," Brigitte Amiri, a lawyer at the American Civil Liberties Union, told CNN. "Notably, this brief goes further than what the state of Louisiana has pushed by suggesting that Roe should be reconsidered even though the questions in the case don't directly raise whether Roe v. Wade should be overturned."

Nearly 200 Democrats signed an amicus brief last month defending Roe v. Wade.

 

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