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WASHINGTON -- The reaction to a leaked draft Supreme Court decision on Monday night that would overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision legalizing abortion nationwide, was met Tuesday with disappointment by pro-abortion rights groups and elation by the prolife community.

"If the final decision is anything like the draft leaked today, it will be devastating for millions of women across the country," Julie Rabinovitz, president and CEO of Essential Access Health, a steering committee member of the California Future of Abortion Council, said in a statement.

"This will have been a huge victory" if the final decision turns out to be similar to the draft, Carol Tobias, president of the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), a prolife group, said in a phone interview, adding, however, that "the tough part would begin" if Roe is overturned because abortion laws will then be decided state by state, and her organization will have to battle in all 50 states to make sure abortion stays illegal in each one.

Leaked Draft Reported Monday

The case, , revolves around a law passed in Mississippi that outlaws abortions after 15 weeks' gestation, which is several weeks before the fetus is considered viable. At issue in the case is whether all pre-viability laws against abortions are unconstitutional. The plaintiffs in the case seek to overturn Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion nationwide up to the point of fetal viability, generally considered to be at 22 to 24 weeks.

The leaked draft document was by Politico. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court acknowledging that the draft was authentic but adding that "it does not represent a decision by the court or the final position of any member on the issues in the case."

"This was a singular and egregious breach of that trust that is an affront to the court and the community of public servants who work here," Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts Jr., said in the release. "I have directed the Marshal of the Court to launch an investigation into the source of the leak."

Fourteenth Amendment at Issue

The , written by Justice Samuel Alito and circulated on February 10, says that "We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled," referring to another Supreme Court abortion case, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which was decided in 1992 in favor of upholding Roe and keeping abortion legal nationwide. "The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision, including the one on which the defenders of Roe and Casey now chiefly rely -- the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment." states that no state shall "deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

"Roe was egregiously wrong from the start," the draft decision continues. "Its reasoning was exceptionally weak, and the decision has had damaging consequences. And far from bringing about a national settlement of the abortion issue, Roe and Casey have enflamed [sic] debate and deepened division."

The debate over the Fourteenth Amendment was foreshadowed in oral arguments before the High Court in early December. Roe and Casey "have no basis in the Constitution," said Mississippi Solicitor General Scott Stewart, JD. "They have no home in our history or traditions. They've damaged the democratic process. They poison the law. They've choked off compromise. For 50 years, they've kept this court at the center of a political battle that it can never resolve."

But Julie Rikelman, JD, who represented the defendant -- Mississippi's lone remaining abortion clinic -- disagreed. "Mississippi's ban on abortion 2 months before viability is flatly unconstitutional under decades of precedent," she said. "Mississippi asks the court to dismantle this precedent and allow states to force women to remain pregnant and give birth against their will. The court should refuse to do so."

Nationwide Impact

Given the court's 6-3 conservative majority, the draft decision doesn't come as a surprise. However, "that doesn't mean it's not profoundly disappointing and concerning, especially for me as a healthcare provider," Jamila Perritt, MD, president and CEO of Physicians for Reproductive Health, a pro-abortion rights group, said in a phone interview. "I know what it means to be able to make decisions about your health, about your life, about your future. To have the threat of that opportunity being wholesale eliminated for all of the folks that I care for is nothing less than terrifying."

Abortion is not the only thing that would be affected by a Roe reversal, she said. "It's going to impact everything -- [including] miscarriage management" and other procedures that might no longer be covered by a right to privacy. In addition, "the same states that are passing anti-abortion laws are passing anti-trans care laws" as well as laws making it more difficult to vote, she said. "These struggles are human rights struggles, they're civil rights struggles, and they're deeply connected."

Tobias was more circumspect as far as predictions about the outcome were concerned. "This is a draft, but the justices -- one or more could still change their mind or sign on to a different opinion or something," she said. "So until we see the final, I'm not assuming or taking anything for granted." She added that when it comes to the fight in each state, some states will settle the issue more quickly than others, and some congressional Democrats such as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) might try other tactics such as getting rid of the filibuster or packing the Supreme Court to make it easier to enact pro-abortion rights law at the federal level. "So there are still going to be a lot of battles."

As it stands now, according to the NRLC, a total of 18 states have either existing pre-Roe laws barring abortion, have passed "trigger" laws that would take effect following Roe's reversal, or both; while 22 states would allow abortion either through legislatively enacted statutes or court rulings interpreting the state constitution to convey the right to abortion.

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