Pro-life evangelical businessman Franklin Graham began his reaction to the Supreme Court’s leaked draft opinion to overturn Roe v. Wade with two words: ‘Praise God!’
Sharing a link to the Politico story on Facebook on Monday night, Graham lauded the likely decision from the justices.
"Praise God!" he wrote. "The Supreme Court has voted to overturn Roe v. Wade according to Politico, which received a supposedly leaked copy of the opinion draft. I don't know if this report is true, but if it is, it's an answer to many years of prayers."
Politico acquired a leaked draft opinion authored by Justice Samuel Alito on Monday night, in which the court seemed to vote against the 1973 case Roe v. Wade, which established a federal right to abortion, and the 1992 case Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which upheld it.
If the opinion stands when the court votes on the Mississippi case the draft relates to — in which the state of Mississippi is seeking to ban nearly all abortions after 15 weeks — abortion would immediately become illegal in at least 13 states, according to Newsweek.
In the draft, Alito stated that the issue of abortion should be decided by elected officials.
"We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled," the leaked draft reads. "It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people's elected representatives."
Alito’s opinion also compared Roe v. Wade to previous decisions, such as Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized gay marriage across the country. According to Alito, such decisions are not “deeply rooted” in American history.
"Until the latter part of the 20th century, there was no support in American law for a constitutional right to obtain an abortion," the draft reads. "Zero. None. No state constitutional provision had recognized such a right."
Graham, son of televangelist Billy Graham, has been a staunch supporter of conservative political and social causes.
He described former President Donald Trump as a "vociferous evangelical ally" and later compared Republicans who voted to impeach him in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 Capitol breach to the apostle Judas, who betrayed Jesus Christ.
Franklin Graham serves as the CEO for his father's company, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, and is the president of the Samaritan's Purse humanitarian aid group.
According to The Washington Times, the high court confirmed Tuesday that the draft opinion is authentic, but said it's not the court’s final ruling.
Chief Justice John Roberts vowed that the leak won’t impact the court’s work and has directed the court’s marshal to investigate the source of the breach, calling it “singular and egregious.”
“To the extent this betrayal of the confidences of the court was intended to undermine the integrity of our operations, it will not succeed,” Roberts said. “The work of the court will not be affected in any way.”
Citing former law clerks, the Times reports that this is the first time a full draft opinion has been leaked in the Supreme Court’s 233-year history.
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