U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden and U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, Democrats from Oregon, seen at an earlier Portland event, reacted Tuesday, May 3, to news the U.S. Supreme Court may be overturning Roe v. Wade. (Ron Cooper/Oregon Capital Chronicle)

Oregon’s U.S. senators reacted with anger, sadness and resolution to the release of a draft U.S. Supreme Court decision that would overturn the landmark decision in Roe v. Wade that guaranteed abortion rights.

“Five unelected justices acting as a super legislature are rolling over Americans’ rights,” Sen. Jeff Merkley, a Democrat, said in a statement. “ We are in big trouble.”

He said his heart goes out to advocates and providers pushing for abortion rights and promised to fight.

Sen. Ron Wyden, also a Democrat, called the draft decision “a five-alarm fire.”

“If this is the final decision, the United States will be one of a handful of countries in the world moving backwards on women’s rights,” Wyden said. “The overturning of Roe would mark a devastating loss of constitutionally guaranteed bodily autonomy and privacy for more than half of America.”

On Monday, Politico released a draft Supreme Court opinion which said the court had voted to overturn the Roe case from 1972 and a subsequent case, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, decided in 1992 which confirmed those rights. The draft opinion was written by Justice Samuel Alito Jr. and verified as authentic Tuesday by Chief Justice John Roberts.

“We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,” Alito wrote. “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.”

The report said his opinion was backed by Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, a conservative majority, including three who were nominated by former President Donald Trump. The ruling is expected in a case over a Missouri law that would ban abortions after 15 weeks. The case was heard late last year and a decision has been expected by June. 

U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, a Democrat in Oregon’s 1st Congressional District, said such a Supreme Court decision would hurt poorer women – not the wealthy.

“Wealthy women will continue to be able to find abortion care, as they did pre-Roe, but it will be devastating for low-income women and desperate young people who simply do not want to bear a child,” Bonamici said in a statement. “I remember the days before Roe v. Wade, and I know that banning abortion does not make it go away; it makes it unsafe and dangerous.”

Bonamici co-sponsored the Women’s Health Protection Act, which has passed the U.S. House. It would “protect a person’s ability to determine whether to continue or end a pregnancy, and to protect a health care provider’s ability to provide abortion services.”

The act now rests with the U.S. Senate.

“I’m fighting for the Senate to take it up as soon as possible,” Bonamici said.

U.S. Reps. Peter DeFazio, Earl Blumenauer and Kurt Schrader, Democrats from Oregon, and Republican Rep. Cliff Bentz didn’t respond Tuesday to a request for comment.

Wyden, chair of the Senate Finance Committee, said he’s geared up for a fight: “Ending this protected and established right – a right generations of women have now known and that the overwhelming majority of Americans support – would harm the health, safety, and lives of millions of women and families. This is going to be the fight of our lives, and we must use every tool at our disposal to stop this attack on constitutionally guaranteed rights.”

Gov. Kate Brown, who’s long supported abortion rights, said in a Tweet: “Abortion is health care and protected by state law in Oregon. We will fight to keep it that way, no matter what this Supreme Court decides.”

The right to a free abortion was put into law in Oregon with the 2017 Reproductive Health Equity Act, and in February the Legislature approved $15 million for expanded abortion care with the expectation that the Supreme Court would overturn Roe. That money was supported by House Speaker Dan Rayfield, D-Corvallis, who called the Alito opinion “devastating.”

“In Oregon, Democratic leadership has been preparing for this dark day for years,” Rayfield wrote. “But we have more work ahead to protect abortion access, and I’m committed to finding bold solutions that break down the barriers and ensure abortion is available for all Oregonians.”

Reporter Alex Baumhardt contributed reporting for this story.

Previous coverage: Oregon abortion providers gear up for increased demand from Idaho and elsewhere