Jim Obergefell, the lead plaintiff in the landmark Supreme Court case Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized gay marriage in 2015, argued that marriage equality is threatened in the United States if Roe v. Wade (1973) is overturned.
Obergefell made the remarks in an MSNBC segment Friday. The segment opened with host Jason Johnson saying that overturning Roe “goes beyond just the assault on abortion rights.” The came after the draft opinion from the Supreme Court abortion case Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization was leaked and published on Monday. The draft opinion shows the Justices voted to overturn Roe in the Dobbs ruling.
“Legal experts have made clear that it's a slippery slope from Alito’s argument against Roe to the erosion of other rights, like marriage equality,” he stated. Obergefell then joined the segment where they discussed the implications that they think Roe, which pertains to abortion, will have on gay marriage.
“There’s definitely concern out there, and I’m hearing a lot of organizations, alot of people, talking about marriage equality and the threat that that right faces in this country,” Obergefell said in the interview. “This Roe v. Wade leaked decision, it’s a roadmap to take away so many rights that we have enjoyed in this nation.” He described abortion as a “woman’s right to control her body.”
“There are so many rights that we stand to lose because of what this decision says, it simply is a roadmap to take us back, not to the 1950s like people like to say, but in my mind, back to the 1850s, because this Court seems to think that the Constitution can only be interpreted as of the time is was written,” he argued.
“The Republican Party, what do they stand for?” he concluded. “All they can do is attack people who are different.”
Watch the segment below.