Congressman Joe Morelle is among the area lawmakers reacting to the bombshell report leaked on Monday night about a draft decision from the U.S. Supreme Court, indicating that the high court is ready to overturn Roe v. Wade, the ruling that guaranteed constitutional protection of abortion rights.
Morelle, who is a Democrat representing the Rochester area, said that the Supreme Court is poised to deliver what he called “the most damaging decision in over five decades.”
On Tuesday, holding a news conference outside the Federal Building in Rochester, Morelle said that such a ruling will have “catastrophic consequences,” and the congressman is also concerned about what other decisions may be coming down in the future.
“Who knows what other issues they will now turn to that relate to the rights of people in the LGBTQ community,” said Morelle. “(Such as) the rights for marriage equality that have been hard fought, who knows where this court will go?”
Another local congressman, Republican Chris Jacobs of Western New York, tweeted that if the ruling is proven true “It would be a major win in the fight to protect vulnerable unborn life in our nation.”
Rep. Tom Reed, a Republican from Corning said that, "This is an unprecedented and troubling leak looking to intimidate the Supreme Court. We respect the process and will await the official decision from the court."
Aaron Baker, the campaign manager for Morelle’s opponent in this year’s Congressional elections, Republican La’Ron Singletary, released a statement that said the leaked opinion is not an official ruling and it would be “premature and irresponsible” to comment on it.
The statement called for whoever is responsible for the leak to be criminally charged.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
