ST. LOUIS- U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner (R-MO), who represents the second congressional district in Missouri serving the greater St. Louis area, would not commit Friday to support federal legislation banning abortions in the event the U.S. Supreme Court overturns precedent in Roe v. Wade later this summer.
“We don’t know what’s going to happen at this point and time. This is still a draft. We don’t know whether it’s real or not. We’ll wait for it to come out. Allegedly, it’s going to come out at the end of June if not sooner. If you believe what’s in the draft, it will be returned, I believe, to the states where it should have been from the very beginning. So we’ll see what the state legislature does from there."
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts on Tuesday confirmed that the draft opinion leaked to Politico was authentic, but said it was not a final opinion. Under a 2019 Missouri law, abortion in the state would be illegal except in cases involving medical emergencies in the event Roe v. Wade is overturned.
Wagner, elected to five terms in Congress on a platform that includes opposition to abortion, has joined other Republicans in comments made since the report Monday night in focusing on the leak itself, as opposed to the potential for the ruling’s impact.
“It’s an incredible breach of the Supreme Court, something that was untouchable before now and I’m hoping that we’re going to be able to find out what individual or individuals leaked this very private, confidential report and breached the trust and went after the heart of our nation’s Supreme Court,” she told Spectrum News.
The House codified abortion rights in a vote last year. The bill faces a procedural vote now scheduled for next week in the Senate, where it is expected to fail without a filibuster-proof majority for Democrats.