- Hezbollah heir apparent Safieddine out of contact after strikes
- Liverpool stay top of Premier League as Arsenal, Man City win
- In dank Tour of Emilia, Pogacar shines in rainbow jersey
- DR Congo launches mpox vaccination drive, hoping to curb outbreak
- Trump returns to site of failed assassination
- Careless Leverkusen held to Bundesliga draw
- O'Brien's 'superstar' Kyprios posts landmark win on Arc weekend
- Liverpool suffer Alisson injury blow
- Habosi helps Racing beat Vannes before Auradou's playing return
- Thousands march in London in support of Palestinians, 1 year after Oct 7
- Israel readying response to Iran missile attack
- Schutt, Mooney help Australia beat Sri Lanka in Women's T20 World Cup
- Liverpool extend Premier League lead with win at Palace
- Djokovic 'shakes rust off' to make third round of Shanghai Masters
- 'Imperfect' PSG fighting on all fronts - Luis Enrique
- Struggling Pakistan look to thwart adaptable England
- Child 'trampled to death' in asylum seekers' Channel crossing: minister
- Gauff fights back to set up Beijing final against Muchova
- Guardiola claims Premier League won't delay season for Man City
- Israel to mark October 7 attack as Gaza war spreads
- Gauff fights back to reach China Open final
- Recovering Stokes ruled out of first Pakistan Test
- Hezbollah battles troops on border as Israel pounds Lebanon
- Alcaraz, Sinner breeze into third round of Shanghai Masters
- Bagnaia wins Japan MotoGP sprint to cut Martin's lead
- Alcaraz breezes into third round of Shanghai Masters
- Gaza cultural heritage brought to light in Geneva
- 'Bullet for democracy': Trump returns to site of rally shooting
- Italy targets climate activists in 'anti-Gandhi' demo clampdown
- South Korean cult-horror series 'Hellbound' returns at BIFF
- Nepalis fear more floods as climate change melts glaciers
- Honduras arrests environmentalist's alleged murderer
- Padres pitcher Musgrove needs elbow surgery
- Supreme Court lets stand rules to curb mercury, methane emissions
- Boston beat Denver in NBA exhibition season opener, but Jokic says omens are good
- Chagos diaspora angry at lack of input on islands' fate
- Biden says 'not confident' of peaceful US election
- US trade chief defends tariff hikes when paired with investment
- Lukaku stars as Napoli beat Como to hold Serie A top spot
- Ohtani set for MLB playoff debut as Dodgers face Padres
- Pogba's drug ban cut to 18 months from four years
- Devine leads New Zealand to big win over India in Women's T20 World Cup
- Bosnia floods kill 16 people
- EU court blocks French ban on vegetable 'steak' labelling
- Prosecutors seek dismissal of rape charges against French rugby players
- Meta AI turns pictures into videos with sound
- Bolivia's Morales says claims he raped a minor are a 'lie'
- MLB Reds hire two-time champion Francona as manager
- Daniel Maldini receives first Italy call-up for Nations League
- US dockworkers return to ports after three-day strike
US faces seismic abortion shift, Biden backs 'fundamental' right
President Joe Biden called on American voters Tuesday to defend the "fundamental" right to abortion after a leaked draft suggested the Supreme Court is poised to strike down the longstanding decision protecting a woman's right to terminate a pregnancy.
The opinion by the court's conservative majority hit Washington like a thunderclap late Monday, setting up a potentially historic turning point on a hot-button issue that is now certain to dominate November's midterm elections.
If the draft is made official -- which could happen within months -- it would shred half a century of constitutional protections for abortion rights, and give free rein to Republican-controlled states which are already leading an all-out push to curtail the procedure.
Biden's Democrats stand broadly united in support of abortion rights -- and rallied immediately in defense of the watershed 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.
While he cautioned the draft had not been verified, Biden said US voters will have to step up in defense of the right if the Supreme Court moves ahead.
"I believe that a woman's right to choose is fundamental, Roe has been the law of the land for almost fifty years, and basic fairness and the stability of our law demand that it not be overturned," the US leader said in a statement.
If the draft proves authentic, "it will fall on voters to elect" officials who back abortion rights in the coming midterm elections, he said, vowing to work to pass legislation in Congress that codifies Roe v. Wade.
- 'Roe v. Wade is going to go!' -
Crowds of protesters from both camps descended on the Supreme Court building in Washington in the wake of Monday's leak.
On Tuesday morning, two opposing groups -- small but vocal -- stood shouting chants at each other, with anti-abortion activists yelling "Abortion is violence. Abortion is oppression" and "Hey Hey Ho Ho Roe v. Wade is going to go!"
In Roe v. Wade, the nation's highest court held that access to abortion is a constitutional right.
In a subsequent 1992 ruling, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the court guaranteed a woman's right to an abortion until the fetus is viable outside the womb, which is typically around 22 to 24 weeks of gestation.
Most developed countries allow abortions on request up to a gestational limit, most often 12 weeks.
Roe v. Wade makes the United States one of a handful of nations to allow the procedure without restriction beyond 20 weeks of pregnancy -- although many others allow it past that point for specific reasons.
Reproductive rights have been under attack in many parts of the United States as Republican-led states move to tighten restrictions, with some seeking to ban all abortions after six weeks, before many women know they are pregnant.
In December, hearing oral arguments about a Mississippi law that would ban most abortions after 15 weeks, the Supreme Court appeared inclined to not only uphold that law but to toss out Roe v. Wade.
Overturning the ruling would spell a massive victory for generations of Republicans who have fought tooth and nail to curb abortion rights, and would effectively leave the nation's 50 individual states to determine whether to protect or outlaw the procedure.
Striking it down "would be an answer to prayer," House Republican Jackie Walorski tweeted following news of the leak.
- 'Wrong from the start' -
The draft opinion was written by Justice Samuel Alito and according to news outlet Politico has been circulating since February inside the court -- dominated 6-3 by conservatives following the nomination of three justices by former president Donald Trump.
Politico stressed the document it obtained is a draft and justices do sometimes change their votes before a final ruling.
Such a leak while a case is still pending is an extraordinary breach of Supreme Court custom, and Republicans have demanded an investigation into how the draft was made public.
The 98-page draft majority opinion calls Roe v. Wade decision enshrining the right to abortion "egregiously wrong from the start."
"We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled," Alito writes in the document, labeled as the "Opinion of the Court" and published on Politico's website.
"It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people's elected representatives."
The Guttmacher Institute, a pro-choice research group, has said 26 states are "certain or likely" to ban abortion if Roe v. Wade is overturned.
Democratic governors of several states including California, New Mexico and Michigan swiftly announced plans to enshrine abortion rights into law even if the court overturns Roe, with California Governor Gavin Newsom tweeting: "Women will remain protected here."
Nogueira--PC