A Pa. case’s lasting impact on abortion access | Morning Newsletter

Expect clouds and some scattered showers today. Temperatures will reach the mid-70s before dropping at night.

Today, we’re taking a look at a Planned Parenthood v. Casey, a defining case for abortion access that originated in Pennsylvania 30 years ago.

We’ll also dig into the local ties of Justice Samuel Alito, who wrote the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion that may shape the future of abortion rights in the U.S.

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In 1990, Planned Parenthood led a group of plaintiffs who sued Pennsylvania Gov. Bob Casey Sr., arguing that the state’s new requirements for obtaining an abortion — including a 24-hour waiting period, parental consent for minors seeking such a procedure, and a spousal notification requirement — were unconstitutional under the standard earlier set by Roe in 1973.

By 1992, the case made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which upheld Roe’s ruling that a person’s right to choose to have an abortion prior to viability was constitutionally protected. Still, Casey has provided legal framework for many court rulings that followed that introduced more restrictive state laws.

Jeremy Roebuck breaks down how the 30-year-old Casey ruling has played a role in subsequent laws and its role in the high court’s current deliberations.

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito grew up in Hamilton Township just outside Trenton, and attended Princeton University before going on to Yale Law School. As an appellate judge, the New Jersey native dissented against the lower-court rulings of Planned Parenthood v. Casey in the early 1990s.

Along with Justice Clarence Thomas, Alito has been considered one the court’s most consistent conservative voices, and his fiercely worded draft opinion, leaked Monday night, would overturn Roe v. Wade’s abortion access protections.

“From start to finish, it’s a very powerful or aggressive opinion. ... There are a lot of arguments in there that cast doubt on same sex marriage, contraception rights and rights against sterilization,” one professor at Temple University’s Beasley School of Law told reporter Samantha Melamed, who looks back at Alito’s local ties and his time on the bench.

Philadelphia’s enforcement of its single-use plastic bag ban went into effect last month, and starting today, shoppers in New Jersey will have to start carrying their own bags to and from stores. They join eight other states and 10 other cities that have started to crack down on single-use plastics. So about how many of those bags do Americans use (and throw away) every year? Find out here.

a. 300 million

b. 50 million

c. 400 million

d. 100 million

🏀 Reading: My colleague Matt Breen spoke to the Broad Street Runner who dressed as Allen Iverson and dribbled his way down the 10-mile race route.

🗳️ Researching: Every candidate for Senate and governor ahead of the May 17 primary in Pennsylvania.

🔖 Bookmarking: A group of Asian-American Pacific Islander-owned businesses to support, from meticulously curated goods to lifestyle brands and more.

This fashion designer, a Philadelphia-area native whose net worth is estimated at $900 million, walked the red carpet at Monday’s Met Gala, along with actress Sydney Sweeney, who was recently announced as an ambassador for the brand of the same name.

BURY TORCH

Think you know? Send your guess our way at morningnewsletter@inquirer.com. We’ll give a shoutout to a reader at random who answers correctly. Today’s shoutout goes to Bob Bogart of Glen Rock, who correctly guessed Questlove as Tuesday’s answer.

And before we go, a quick correction: Yesterday’s newsletter misstated the location of the world rocketry championships, where Nazareth Academy High School’s all-girls rocketry team is hoping to compete. They take place in London.

That’s all for this Wednesday morning. Evan Weiss will be leading your day tomorrow. 👋🏻