LOS ANGELES — POLITICO reported Monday that the U.S. Supreme Court has voted to strike down the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, according to an initial draft majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito circulated inside the court and obtained exclusively by the reporters. The unprecedented disclosure marks the first time in the modern history of the Court that an opinion has leaked while a case is still pending. If issued, the ruling would pave the way for a majority of states to criminalize abortion — a devastating reality for millions of American women and transgender and nonbinary people, who rely on safe, legal abortion care. The latest estimate from the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive health research group that supports abortion rights, found that nearly one in four women will obtain an abortion by age 45.

Equality California, the nation’s largest statewide LGBTQ+ civil rights organization released the following statement from Executive Director Tony Hoang in reaction to POLITICO’s reporting and the draft opinion:

“Abortion is healthcare. Abortion is essential. Abortion is a fundamental human right.

“There is nothing the Supreme Court can do to change that. There is nothing five or six justices can do to stop people from needing and seeking abortion care. What they can do — and what overturning Roe will do — is cost people their lives and livelihoods. Women. Transgender and nonbinary people. Our mothers and sisters and friends and neighbors and colleagues.

“Shame on us if we let this stand. We must organize, mobilize and vote like our lives depend on it. Because they do.”