A leaked draft decision indicating the Supreme Court is poised to overturn the federal constitutional right to abortions sparked a political firestorm this week.

The leaked decision by conservative Justice Samuel Alito and published by Politico prompted abortion rights supporters to hold rallies outside the courthouse and at various locations across the country.

U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts announced an investigation into the source of the unprecedented leak that he called a betrayal of the confidentiality of the judicial process.

The court confirmed the authenticity of the document, but called it preliminary. The court is due to issue its ruling in the case by the end of June.

The decision would uphold a Mississippi law banning abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy and overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide.

Such an overturning would remove all federal constitutional protections for people to exercise bodily autonomy over carrying out pregnancies, even in cases of rape, or when carrying out a pregnancy poses a risk to the mother’s health. It would leave legal parameters, or lack thereof, for abortions up to the states.

Some states already have restrictions on abortions, such as limits on how any weeks into pregnancy a mother can have an abortion, insurance restrictions and more, thereby limiting access to abortions. Anti abortion laws like the Trigger Ban and Pre-Roe Ban are predicted to worsen the future of abortion access in states like Texas if Roe is overturned.

Some states, like Colorado and New Jersey, have laws protecting the right to an abortion. But 23 states, including Michigan, already have often antiquated laws on the books restricting abortion, and some that have been frozen while the Roe ruling has been on the books would immediately take effect if it is repealed.

The leaked decision said “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start” and that “Its reasoning was exceptionally weak and the decision has had damaging consequences.”

Reports indicate that five out of the nine-member court support the conservative decision on the matter. It is possible for changes to be made to the opinion in the weeks to come, or even for votes to change, before the court’s final ruling.

Last month, Governor Whitmer filed a lawsuit and used her executive authority to ask the Michigan Supreme Court to immediately resolve whether Michigan’s Constitution protects the right to an abortion.

Signs are handed out before a pro-abortion rights rally in Foley Square in lower Manhattan, May 3. Photo: Seth Harrison/The Journal News

Whitmer pushed on with the lawsuit after the leaked opinion and joined 16 governors to call on the U.S. Senate to make legal protections in Roe into law.

“In September, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would make access to abortion as protected by Roe into law,” Whitmer said. “We urge the United State Senate to come together and get this done.”

Marking the first time a governor has filed a lawsuit to protect a woman’s right to an abortion, the lawsuit asks the court to recognize a constitutional right to an abortion under the Due Process Clause of the Michigan Constitution. It also asks the court to stop enforcement of the 1931 Michigan abortion ban.

U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Detroit) also spoke out against the leaked decision. Tlaib voted for the protection act in the U.S. House.

“If this draft opinion becomes reality, the lives of those who need health care and safe abortions will be endangered,” Tlaib said. “We know that decades of attacks have left abortion rights hanging by a thread. These attacks have left our fundamental human right to reproductive rights and abortion one Supreme Court decision away from being abolished on the federal level. We must have immediate action to protect the right to safe and legal abortions across the country.”

I feel like I am living in the twilight zone. I have three daughters. Now more than ever I must stand to protect them and their reproductive rights. – Kym Worthy, Wayne County prosecutor

As for local prosecutors, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has previously supported Whitmer’s lawsuit and doubled down on her commitment to not enforce a 1931 felony abortion ban in the state after the leaked decision.

“My grave concern is you’re going to have women who are going to die for a number of different reasons,” Nessel said. “Either because they’ll be so desperate to try to self-abort and of course we know that’s the reason why women pre-Roe were harmed.”

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said on Wednesday that her office won’t enforce the state’s 1931 ban either.

“I feel like I am living in the twilight zone,” Worthy said. “I have three daughters. Now more than ever I must stand to protect them and their reproductive rights. This is not just for my daughters, but for every single person in America so that they can decide what to do with their bodies.” 

Worthy said that only those who are invited into the pregnancy decision-making process should have any say.

“And beyond that, as someone who has looked into the eyes of hundreds of sexual assault and incest victims, how dare anyone enter into to their trauma dictating what they should do with their bodies,” she said.

Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit has pledged not to prosecute doctors or patients  for abortions.

Nessel said Tuesday that she doesn’t have the authority to make county prosecutors enforce certain laws.