Following Wednesday’s oral arguments before the Supreme Court over Mississippi’s controversial abortion law, former Suffolk County sheriff and Massachusetts secretary of public safety Andrea Cabral joined Boston Public Radio on Thursday to share her thoughts on the case that could significantly alter the future of abortion rights in the United States.
Mississippi bans nearly all abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, with no excuses made in cases of rape or incest. The state allows narrow exceptions to this law if there is a medical emergency, or in cases of severe fetal abnormalities.
Based on remarks by conservative justices, the court seems ready to uphold Mississippi’s abortion law. If the law is upheld, it would be at odds with precedent set in Roe v. Wade, allowing states to determine their own abortion laws.
“It is mind boggling that we’re at a point in the Supreme Court where not only did the three most recent appointments to the court come at the hands of a man [former President Donald Trump] who tried to actually overturn the government while he wasn’t president, but that the sweeping aside of decades of precedent doesn’t seem to bother them at all,” Cabral said.
“What’s the compelling reason for overturning Roe v. Wade, which set a standard for viability and increasing governmental interest as the pregnancy progresses?” she added. “What is the compelling reason to overturn this precedent? That’s utterly absent here.”
While the justices continue to deliberate over the abortion law, Cabral told Boston Public Radio hosts Jim Braude and Margery Eagan that the conservative justices seem to be motivated by their own ideology rather than protecting constitutional rights.
“It’s driven ideologically, not by law, not by the need to right some constitutional wrong — struggle as they as they might to try to couch this in constitutional terms,” Cabral said.
Cabral is the former Suffolk County sheriff and Massachusetts secretary of public safety. She’s currently the CEO of the cannabis company Ascend.
