Congressman Waltz: 'Be prepared for scorched-earth tactics' after Supreme Court Roe leak

News of a leaked Supreme Court draft opinion that would overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade case legalizing abortion was still circulating Tuesday morning when Congressman Michael Waltz predicted pro-choice activists will "burn it down."

Waltz, a Republican who represents Volusia and Flagler counties, and other officials from both sides of the abortion debate were pointed in their initial reactions to a Politico story reporting that at least five justices have voted to overturn both Roe and a 1992 decision, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, that largely affirmed it. Waltz said in an interview on Fox News Tuesday the leak is "outrageous" and an attempt to influence the outcome.

"Be prepared for the scorched-earth tactics of the left on this issue," Waltz said. "They truly believe the ends justify the means, no matter what norms they have to break. … They are going to burn it down, as you're hearing the activists say, in order to try to stop this.

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"And what’s such a shame is that many pro-life activists, many people who believe in the sanctity of life abided by the law for nearly 50 years, even though they believe that child’s life was being unjustly taken," Waltz said. "But I would not expect that same courtesy from the other side for our nation’s system and its rule of law.”

State Rep. Paul Renner, slated to become the Florida House Speaker in November, argued in a statement released to The News-Journal that the court's Roe decision 49 years ago was erroneous in its assessment that the 14th Amendment due-process clause grants women a right to privacy when it comes to deciding whether or not to have an abortion.

"While we continue to wait for the Supreme Court to release its opinion, the Constitution has never included a right to abortion," said Renner, R-Palm Coast. "The Roe v. Wade decision was egregiously wrong since it was decided in 1973 and is a glaring example of how the Supreme Court unnecessarily stokes division across the country when it attempts to legislate from the bench and not adhere to its proper role."

State Rep. Webster Barnaby, R-Deltona, in a text, called the leak "egregious" and said the FBI should prosecute the perpetrator.

Barnaby had introduced a bill for the 2022 session similar to one passed in Texas that bans abortions when physicians can hear what he called a "fetal heartbeat," usually around six weeks. That bill didn't make it, but another restricting abortion access to women within 15 weeks of conception was signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

"I want to wait until we officially hear from SCOTUS to comment," Barnaby said, calling the reporting "sheer speculation."

Barnaby's opponent in the Republican primary for the newly created House District 29, is also an incumbent state representative, Elizabeth Fetterhoff, R-DeLand.

"I agree with the Supreme Court that this is an issue that should not have been decided by them previously and should always have been an issue decided by the states," Fetterhoff said in a text.

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Democratic Party chair: 'Awful'

Republicans weren't alone in expressing shock at the unauthorized release of the draft to a reporter.

"How does something as important as that get leaked? It blows my mind," Flagler County Democratic Party Chair Janet Sullivan said.

Volusia Democratic Party Chair Jewel Dickson called the draft opinion "awful," and while it was expected, it wasn't expected so soon.

"There will be a nationwide reaction. Women can't tolerate going backwards," Dickson said.

While she believes Democrats will be nearly universal in condemning Justice Samuel Alito's opinion, she said she believes many Republican women, too, will be disappointed.

"I think this is a male-female thing," she said. "I think women are going to be angry everywhere."

Of the justices expected to support overturning Roe, only one, Amy Coney Barrett, is a woman.

Sullivan said if the draft opinion comes to fruition, she, too, believes "most Republican women, excluding the far right, support a women's right to choose," and the ruling will ultimately hurt the GOP politically.

"From what I've read over the years, everyone — whether they know it or not — knows three, four or more people who have had an abortion, and I feel badly for those who this might impact," Sullivan said. "My heart breaks for the women who might now not have access to timely choices."

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Jearlyn Dennie, the former Flagler County Republican Party chair who remains active as a pro-life advocate, said she is "outraged" by the leak.

"Regardless of who it was, if it was a real leaking of information, that is disheartening to think that even in the Supreme Court, nothing is sacred, nothing is secure," Dennie said. "I'm on the edge of my seat anticipating and hoping that it's real, that it is not a joke, that it would actually happen."

She expects to hear from the pro-choice side arguments about women's rights.

"People forget about the rights of the unborn child," Dennie said. "What about the child's rights? In the Bible (God) says, 'Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.' We don't create life. God creates life."

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This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Volusia, Flagler officials react with outrage to Alito abortion draft leak