MAY 13, 2022
mississippicatholic.com
Leaked draft of Supreme Court opinion indicates overturn of Roe decision BY CAROL ZIMMERMANN
WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court appears set to overturn its Roe v. Wade decision, which legalized abortion for nearly 50 years, according to a leaked initial draft of a court opinion obtained by Politico and published online the evening of May 2. Just minutes after the leak was published, reactions were fast and furious on social media, and barricades were erected around the Supreme Court. Many people gathered at the court in protest and some, including students from The Catholic University of America, were there to pray the rosary. The draft opinion, written by Justice Samuel Alito, said Roe "was egregiously wrong from the start" and that "Roe and Casey must be overruled." Casey v. Planned Parenthood is the 1992 decision that affirmed Roe. Alito's opinion said the court's 1973 Roe decision had exceptionally weak reasoning "and the decision has had damaging consequences.
Lights burn inside U.S. Supreme Court offices in Washington May 2, 2022, after the leak of a draft majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito preparing for a majority of the court to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion rights decision later this year. (CNS photo/Jonathan Ernst, Reuters)
And far from bringing about a national settlement of the abortion issue, Roe and Casey have enflamed debate and deepened division," he wrote. He also said abortion policies should be determined on the state level. Politico's report says Alito's opinion is supported by Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett and that Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan were working on dissents. It was not clear how Chief Justice John Roberts planned to vote. The 98-page draft, which includes a 31-page appendix of historical state abortion laws, is an opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization – a case about Mississippi's ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy with the potential to also overturn Roe. The fact that the opinion was leaked also caused significant reaction, because this is unprecedented in the court's recent history, espe-
Leap of faith fuels diving adventure BY JOE LEE
MADISON – Former President George H. W. Bush might be the first person that comes to mind when one thinks of skydiving late in life. Our country’s 41st president, Bush passed away in 2018 at the age of 94. A Navy pilot during World War II, he jumped from an airplane in 1999 to commemorate his 75th birthday. He enjoyed the experience so much he did so again on birthdays in 2004, 2009 and, remarkably, in 2014 – at the ripe old age of 90. “It’s vintage George Bush,” said spokesman Jim McGrath to Fox News after Bush’s skydive in 2014. “It’s that passion for life. It’s wanting to set a goal, wanting to achieve it. I’m sure part of it is sending a message to others that even in your retirement years you can still find challenges.” Adventures in parasailing Lois Booth didn’t make the national news after her skydive last Thanksgiving. Neither did Rita Martinson, her neighbor at St. Catherine’s Village in Madison. But the motivations for both – and their shared sense of accomplishment afterward – were comparable to those of our nation’s late Skydiver-in-Chief. “My identical twin sister and I went to Orange Beach, Alabama, two years ago and parasailed. I loved it and she did, too,” said Booth, who grew up in Drew, Mississippi, became Catholic a year ago, and is a parishioner at Sacred Heart Church in Canton. “The exhilaration I felt as we lifted off the back of that boat had me squealing like a teenager,” she continued. “I think we were 3,000-4,000 feet up. We were in the air about five minutes. There INSIDE THIS WEEK were six of us on the boat. You go off the back of the boat, and land on the back of the boat. I learned from parasailing how to land while skydiving.” She also began thinking about skydiving for the first time that day. Fascinated with flying Rita Martinson, who served District 58 in the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1992-2016, is a long-time parishioner at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Madison. A native of Gloster, Mississippi, she thinks she From the archives has adventure in her blood. Jesus had an MRI? “If you’d been raised in a little town like Gloster, you’d have it in yours, too,” she said of her formative years. “We
lived in our imaginations.” Always fascinated with flying, Martinson received her fixed-wing pilot license in 1965 and became certified to fly glider aircraft several years later. The move to parasailing probably wasn’t a surprise to anyone who knew Martinson and her late husband, Billy, who encouraged her and went along on her flights. “Every chance I got, I flew,” Martinson said. “I was fascinated with hot-air balloon rides and rode in them. The next thing was to jump out of a plane. Billy and I joined several flying clubs. One At age 83, Lois Booth of Sacred Heart Canton fulfilled her bucket-list item to skydive. was a Cessna club.” In learning about flying a glid- She is pictured here with her grandchildren after her skydive over Thanksgiving in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Photo courtesy of – Continued on page 6 – Lois Booth)
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Youth Youth activities from around the diocese
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