BRYAN, Texas — The leaking of a Supreme Court Justice draft on Roe vs Wade has caused an uproar across the country, the state of Texas and even across the Brazos Valley. Demonstrators gathered Tuesday evening at the Brazos County Courthouse in an effort to take a stance against overturning abortion rights in the United States.
Demonstrators said they want people to know they believe 50 years of progress is being overturned. They aren't the only ones who are angry. Texas Senator Ted Cruz, has mixed emotions. While he said he believes the potential opinion of the Justices could be beneficial for states across the country, he's upset on how it was done.
"This has never happened in the over 200 years of the Supreme Court," Senator Cruz said. "It is the most egregious breach of trust." Cruz said he started out his career working as a law clerk for Chief Justice William Rehnquist. The leaking of this draft, Cruz said, jeopardizes the trust within the court. "It makes it very difficult for the Justices to do their job. They cannot circulate draft opinions, comment on opinions, change opinions. If you now have law clerks just handing it over to the press, in the middle of the process, it deeply damages the ability of the court to resolve the cases before it."
Brazos County Democratic Party Chair Amy Alge, who put the demonstration outside the courthouse Tuesday said the draft jeopardizes the women she has known in her life who have had abortions.
"If it were to go back to the way it was, they probably wouldn't be alive now," Alge said. "There are women whose lives will be put in jeopardy if we go back the way things were."
Cruz, however, said people need to look at the bigger picture of what's happening. "I think it is a much better outcome if, in fact, the Supreme Court does overrule Roe vs Wade to allow the decision to be decided by the elected state Legislators in a way that reflects the views ultimately of the citizens of Texas," he said.
Texas is considered a "Trigger Law", which means the state will ban all abortions if the ruling of overturning Roe v Wade is final.
The final ruling is expected to come in June or early July.