Democrat Senator To Undergo Surgery After Brutal Fall

Vermont Democrat Sen. Patrick Leahy has to have surgery after suffering a devastating fall at his home.

The 82-year-old Democrat senator broke his hip after falling at his home in McClean, Virginia, his office said in a press release.

“This morning, Senator Leahy will undergo surgery to repair a broken hip that he suffered as a result from a fall at his house in McLean, Virginia, Wednesday night,” the senator’s office said.

“Having been born blind in one eye, the Senator has had a lifelong struggle with reduced depth perception.  He has taken some remarkable dingers over the years but this one finally caught up with him.

“His doctors determined that the best course of action would be to have surgery to repair his hip as soon as possible.  He is expected to make a full recovery and begin a healthy course of physical therapy immediately,” it said.

The senator, who is the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, issued a press release last week after Roe V Wade was ended by the Supreme Court.

“Today’s opinion from a narrow majority of the Court is not the end of abortion. It is the end of a woman’s right to safe reproductive health care. It is the end of women’s choice. It sets us back. It does not move us forward,” the senator said.

“What message does this send to women? That their choice — that their right to govern their bodies — doesn’t matter? That politicians know better? State legislatures cannot write their way through the myriad of circumstances that can arise for women in pregnancy. These states, though, say today that they know best. The Court, today, says that those state legislatures know best. No, not the 163 million women in this country. Not a woman about her own body. Government knows best,” he added.

“For years I have heard Republicans in the Senate talk about limited government, about their worries that government interferes too much with our daily lives. Today, I ask them, is there any more significant interference than that of getting between a woman, or any person, and their health care choices? This is hypocrisy of the highest order. Americans come to court to find justice. To find protection under the law. Today, the Supreme Court abandons that role. I fear for what it means for the progress we have fought hard to achieve. For our more perfect union. For generations to come,” he said.

Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont has broken a hip in a fall at his home and was to undergo surgery to repair it, his office said. The 82-year-old Democrat fell Wednesday night in McLean, Virginia. https://t.co/Aj9cX7d6y5

— The Associated Press (@AP) June 30, 2022

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court officially released its decision in the highly-anticipated case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

The nation’s highest court has voted in favor of overturning Roe v Wade, the landmark case that legalized abortion.

In early May, a draft majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito was leaked to Politico and it set off a firestorm.

“Roe was egregiously wrong from the start,” Alito writes.

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

“We, therefore, hold the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion. Roe and Casey must be overruled, and the authority to regulate abortion must be returned to the people and their elected representatives,” Alito writes in the document, labeled the “Opinion of the Court.”

Soon after Alito’s draft majority opinion leaked, it’s assumed there were at least 5 votes in favor of overturning Roe v Wade, leaving state legislators to weigh their own abortion policies.

Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz also offered his opinion of who he believes the “leaker” could be.

Prior to the official ruling being announced, Supreme Court officials launched a probe into identifying the source of the leaked draft opinion, which included asking law clerks to provide cell phone records and sign affidavits.