Wednesday, December 7, 2016 |
Sacramento, CA
President-Elect Donald Trump has promised to appoint a conservative pro-life justice to fill Antonin Scalia’s seat on the U.S. Supreme Court.
We’ll talk with McGeorge Law Professor Leslie Jacobs about the prospects of changes to reproductive rights under a Trump Administration and his potential pick for the high court.
Jacobs says despite Trump's intent to overturn Roe v. Wade, the court case that allows abortion prior to the first 20 weeks of pregnancy, it is unlikely Trump will succeed.
She explains that Justice Anthony Kennedy voted to uphold abortion and that even conservative judges would hesitate to have their judgment look entirely political.
What instead is likely to happen are restrictions to abortion access, which would impact low-income women who can not afford the procedure out of pocket.
Jacobs says the most possible outcome would be instead of overturning Roe v. Wade, that judges would interpret abortion narrowly and uphold state restrictions.