Norma McCorvey on Dateline in 1995.
By Lacey Latch | Arizona Republic
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey has joined 11 other Republican governors and more than 200 GOP lawmakers and officials from across the country in asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the landmark, controversial Roe v. Wade abortion ruling.
In a brief filed Thursday, the governors joined Mississippi’s argument that the 14th Amendment does not include the right to abortion and that the rulings in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey upset the constitutional balance between states and the federal government.
The 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade established a woman’s right to an abortion nationwide, and nearly two decades later the court upheld that ruling in Planned Parenthood v. Casey.
“The Constitution preserves the rights of the states by specifically enumerating the authority granted to the federal government. Unfortunately, almost 50 years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court decided to ignore the Constitution and created policy which has led to the over-politicization of this issue for decades,” Ducey said in a statement.
“It is time for the U.S. Supreme Court to fix their mistake and return this authority to the individual states as the democratic process intends.”
Ducey has long been a vocal anti-abortion advocate and in April signed a sweeping anti-abortion bill that makes it illegal to perform abortions based on fetal genetic conditions, despite medical professionals and legal experts warning it was “medically unsound” and unconstitutional.
