Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, ends federal abortion rights

The Supreme Court on Friday overturned Roe v. Wade in a 6-3 decision, the landmark ruling that established the constitutional right to abortion in the US in 1973.

The court’s controversial but expected decision gives individual states the power to establish their own abortion laws without worrying about running behind Roe, who for nearly half a century allowed abortions during the first two trimesters of pregnancy.

Nearly half of the states are expected to make abortion illegal or severely prohibited as a result of the Supreme Court ruling. Other states plan to maintain more liberal rules governing termination of pregnancy.

“The Constitution does not provide for the right to abortion; Roe and Casey are overruled, and the right to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives,” said a course of opinion.

As expected, Justice Samuel Alito wrote the majority opinion that ousted Roe. He was joined in that decision by five other high court conservatives, including Chief Justice John Roberts.

The court’s three liberal justices disagreed with the decision.

We believe that Roe and Casey should be dismissed,” Alito wrote.

“The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is impliedly protected by any constitutional provision, in which Roe and Casey’s defenders now primarily rely—the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment,” Alito said. wrote. “That provision is held to guarantee certain rights which are not mentioned in the Constitution, but any such right ‘should be deeply rooted in the history and tradition of this nation’ and in the concept of ‘ordered liberty’ must be contained.”

“It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the elected representatives of the people,” Alito wrote.

The case that triggered Roe’s demise nearly half a century later, known as the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, relates to a Mississippi law that banned nearly all abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

Dobbs’ court tenure was by far the most important and contentious controversy. It also presented the most serious threat to abortion rights since a 1992 case, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, in which the Supreme Court confirmed Roe.

Dobbs deepened partisan divisions in an already intense period of political tribalism.

The leak in early May of a draft of the majority opinion, which completely overturned Row, sent shock waves across the country and activists on both sides of the debate. It also shocked the country’s highest court, which immediately launched an investigation to find the source of the leak.

The publication of the court’s draft opinion, written by Alito, sparked opposition from abortion-rights supporters, who were outraged and fearful of how the decision would affect both patients and providers as 22 states restricted abortions or allowed them outright. Geared up to ban.

The leaked opinion marked a major victory for conservatives and anti-abortion advocates who had worked for decades to undermine Roe and Casey, which most Americans support.

But Republican lawmakers in Washington, who are hoping for a big win in November’s midterm elections, initially focused more on the leak, not the reveal. He also condemned protests outside the homes of some conservative judges, accusing activists of trying to intimidate the court.

The unprecedented leak of Alito’s draft opinion blew a hole in the veil of secrecy that usually covers the court’s internal affairs. It drew harsh scrutiny from critics of the court, many of whom were already concerned about the politicization of the country’s most powerful deliberative body, where judges are appointed for life.

Roberts vowed that the court’s work “would not be affected in any way” by the leak, which he described as a “betrayal” that was intended to “undermine the integrity of our actions”.

However, the leak clearly had an impact. Tall fences were later put up around the court building, and Attorney General Merrick Garland directed the US Marshals Service to “help ensure the safety of the judges”.

In his first report since the leak, Alito spoke to a crowd attending a stage at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School from a distance from the court building, rather than traveling six miles to the school. The Washington Post reported that, when asked during that incident how he and the other judges were holding up, Alito replied, “It’s a topic I told myself that I didn’t talk about today. Was going to do, you know – given all the circumstances.”

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