The likely overturning of Roe v. Wade is being viewed as one of the most controversial U.S. Supreme Court decisions in decades
While the draft could still change, if it is not altered, it will result in 26 states banning abortion within the space of just a few months.
Under federal U.S. law, the right to abortion is currently protected, a right that was established in the 1973 case of Roe v. Wade.
As it stands, people have a constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy up to the point a foetus can survive outside the womb, which is roughly 24 weeks gestation.
The right to abortion hangs on this Supreme Court decision given congressional leaders have failed to protect the right in statute since the landmark case of 1973.
As Democrats lead an effort to protect the act through enacting legislation, they are stalled in the Senate, needing 60 votes to pass in a 100-member Senate that is evenly split.
Protesters are rallying right across America, under the slogan “off our bodies”, demanding abortion rights be protected.
In New York City, thousands gathered in what was one of the nation’s largest demonstrations, just months before voters go to the polls for the midterm elections.
Meanwhile, the draft decision has also opened the door to concerns the overturning of the Roe v. Wade decision will only result in more conservative laws being introduced in Republican states in the future.
U.S. President Joe Biden warns the LGBTQ community could be next in the firing line, as the mid-term elections approach.
