AG Urges the U.S. Supreme Court to Overturn Roe v. Wade

OKLAHOMA CITY – In his first major official act, Attorney General John O’Connor today filed a brief asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, a decision that for decades has wrongly barred states from prohibiting the killing of unborn children.

The case before the U.S. Supreme Court, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, is centered on a Mississippi state law that bans most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Relying on the Supreme Court’s abortion jurisprudence, a lower federal court blocked the law from taking effect. However, in May the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case after a compelling challenge from the Mississippi Attorney General defending the state’s authority to protect unborn human children.

Attorney General O’Connor said the Supreme Court needs to overturn Roe and its infamous follow-up case, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, overturn the lower Mississippi court ruling, and allow the Mississippi law to stand.

“Human life begins at conception, and abortion is antithetical to our country’s foundation as a free and moral people,” Attorney General O’Connor said. “When the Supreme Court issued Roe v. Wade in 1973, the Court did not adhere to the rule of law or the Constitution, but instead dehumanized an entire class of people by ordering states to allow the abortions. Moreover, it degraded the character of our nation as one that values compassion and condemns violence. My colleagues and I encourage the court to correct this egregious mistake, overturn the lower court’s ruling and allow states to protect their unborn children.”

Attorneys General from 24 states signed the brief.

In the brief, the Attorneys General submit authorities which demonstrate that Roe v. Wade is not grounded in the Constitution, and has distorted other areas of law, applying special rules to abortion that are not applied in any other legal context. As a result, the “right” to end the lives of unborn children is in some ways more protected by this incorrect precedent than rights actually written in the Constitution, like free speech.

“Decisions like Roe and Casey also force states to draw reprehensible lines regarding abortion,” Attorney General O’Connor added. “As an American committed to justice and the Constitution, I have no choice but to stand up for the least among us and to condemn the killing of our unborn children.”

To read the brief, click here.