JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A majority opinion leaked from the U.S. Supreme Court suggests the nation could soon return to the days of half a century ago when state legislatures decided when to allow or outlaw abortions and how to punish those who would seek or perform them.
In the opinion, Justice Samuel Alito said the 1972 abortion ruling was "egregiously wrong," "enflamed debate," "deepened division," and "abruptly ended the political process" in an era when dozens of states were actively debating and enacting a patchwork of various abortion laws.
The draft, which Chief Justice John Roberts confirmed was authentic, signals a supercharged series of debates heading for statehouses across the country.
For 50 years, that blanket "law of the land" decision largely shielded state legislatures from taking tough votes on topics related to abortion, until a recent spate of red-state provisions placed restrictions or limits on abortion. Those measures drew legal challenges, which ultimately tested the conservative majority on the court and its stated commitment to upholding the "super precedent" ruling.
The contrast between red and blue states couldn't be more stark than it is between Illinois and Missouri.
"We are a pro-life state and we want to protect the unborn," Rep. Brian Seitz (R-Branson) said on Tuesday. "I think it's wonderful we can overturn Roe v. Wade and we can save millions of lives of the unborn."
Seitz, a former Baptist pastor from Branson, is one of many Missouri Republicans pushing to pass tougher restrictions on abortion before the Supreme Court issues its final ruling.
Already, the state's 2019 "heartbeat bill" would make it a Class B felony for a doctor to perform an abortion after the eighth week of a pregnancy, a crime that carries a minimum sentence of five years in prison.
Soon, if the Missouri Senate adopts the proposal Seitz passed through the House, the state could move to defund Planned Parenthood and outlaw mail-order abortion medications.
Seitz says his plan "would stop abortion-inducing drugs from being trafficked through the mail in the state of Missouri."
"Hopefully, Planned Parenthood is done here in the state of Missouri as far as abortions go," he said. "We want to protect life here in the state of Missouri."
Rep. LaKeySha Bosley (D-St. Louis) said Missouri Republicans aren't truly pro-life, they "just don't like that a woman can know what she wants to do with her own body."
Bosley, the vice-chair of the House Democratic caucus, said true "pro-life" policies would do more to improve infant and maternal mortality rates, expand Medicaid coverage to provide health care for people living in poverty and improve child care and education options throughout the entire course of someone's life beyond their birth.
She claimed anti-abortion lawmakers "just want you to stay in the kitchen and cook food with a bunch of babies and swollen ankles."
Missouri is one of 13 states where abortion would immediately become illegal once the high court reverses Roe v. Wade. Thirteen others are likely to restrict or move to ban abortion as well.
Illinois was one of those states with a "trigger provision" until former Republican Governor Bruce Rauner signed a bill into law removing it in 2017. The proposal also ensured access to abortion for women living in poverty on Medicaid.
Religious conservatives saw Rauner's support for abortion as a "betrayal." He was easily swept from office in 2018. Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker came into office and signed a series of bills into law in his effort to make the state the "most progressive in the nation" on abortion rights.
"No matter what atrocious opinion the Supreme Court officially rolls out this summer in regards to Roe v. Wade, abortion is safe and legal in Illinois," Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker said at a Chicago press conference on Tuesday morning.
"Illinois is a beacon of hope in an increasingly dark world," Pritzker said, "because we will fight like hell not just for the women of Illinois, but for every person in our state, and every person across this nation, who believes not in limiting civil rights and human rights, but in expanding them."
"A decision to overturn Roe v. Wade does not mean that abortions will stop happening," Pritzker said. "It just means that in half of the states, where their governors and legislatures have declared war on reproductive rights, women will be forced into dangerous and sometimes deadly situations."
"The statistics about so-called 'back-alley abortions' were made up," Missouri state senator Bob Onder (R-St. Charles) said, referring to comments from a former abortion provider who later became a prominent anti-abortion activist.
"There will be states that will choose to legalize abortion, and there will be states that choose to protect innocent human life," he said. "Now we are returning to our system of federalism where some states can take one approach, and other states can take another."
"All the decision would say is that once again the states shall have the right to regulate abortion and protect innocent human life, and other states could choose to take a different approach," Onder said.
Missouri women seeking an abortion often travel across state lines into Illinois for the procedure.
While many Democrats expected the conservative majority on the nation's high court to eventually overturn or weaken abortion protections outlined in Roe v. Wade, "it was harder to read it in writing," one said.
Missouri House Democratic Floor Leader Crystal Quade said she's still processing what the court's decision will mean for women seeking an abortion.
"Even in cases of rape and incest post-eight weeks, there will be no abortion," Quade said. "In addition to that, which is really important for folks to know, is that the attorney general and the governor of the state of Missouri have the ability to write an opinion or send a proclamation outlawing abortion completely, so a full ban on abortion in the state of Missouri, provided Roe is overturned."
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, a Republican running for the U.S. Senate in this summer's primary contest, signaled he could do just that.
“We’re encouraged by the draft opinion, and it is consistent with the briefs we’ve submitted to the United States Supreme Court calling for Roe v. Wade to be overturned," Schmitt said in an emailed statement. "If we’re successful and Roe v. Wade is overturned, I’m prepared to immediately issue the opinion that would protect the unborn in Missouri.”
The court's pending decision rattled many Democrats and galvanized others to organize and take their message to the campaign trail this November.
"We need to flip seats," Quade said. "We need to be electing people in our state who understand that this is government overreach."
"Government has no business getting in the doctors' offices," she said. "People should be able to sit down with their doctor and make their own healthcare decisions. Until we elect people who believe that, Missouri isn’t going to be different."