A leaked draft of a US Supreme Court opinion indicating that the court is preparing to overturn Roe v. Wade has sent federal lawmakers into a frenzy. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is pushing for a floor vote on a bill that would codify the right to abortion into law, while his Republican counterpart, Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell, told USA Today that a federal abortion ban is "possible."

The current case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, hinges on the constitutionality of a Mississippi abortion law. In the draft, Associate Justice Samuel Alito contends that the US Constitution "makes no reference to abortion and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision."

The majority opinion in Roe v. Wade rested, in part, on the due process clause of the 14th Amendment, which Associate Justice Harry Blackmun wrote included the "right to privacy, including a woman's qualified right to terminate her pregnancy."

Alito, however, wrote that Blackmun's majority opinion in Roe "was egregiously wrong from the start."

The draft, which Chief Justice John Roberts confirmed is authentic, isn't a final opinion. The published opinion isn't expected until mid-to-late June, and justices still have an opportunity to change their minds. For now, the right to an abortion is still constitutionally protected, although several Republican-led states have passed or introduced legislation severely curtailing it.