US Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, ending abortion's constitutional protections
The Supreme Court has ended constitutional protections for abortion that had been in place for nearly 50 years in a decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, with the outcome expected to lead to abortion bans in roughly half the states.
The decision made by the court's conservative majority, unthinkable just a few years ago, was the culmination of decades of efforts by abortion opponents.
The right side of the court was fortified and emboldened by three appointees of former President Donald Trump.
The ruling came more than a month after the stunning leak of a draft opinion by Justice Samuel Alito indicating the court was prepared to take this momentous step.
It puts the court at odds with a majority of US citizens who favoured preserving Roe, according to opinion polls.
Alito, in the final opinion issued Friday, wrote that Roe and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the 1992 decision that reaffirmed the right to abortion, were wrong the day they were decided and must be overturned.
Authority to regulate abortion rests with the political branches, not the courts, Alito wrote.
Joining Alito were Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. The latter three justices are Trump appointees. Thomas first voted to overrule Roe 30 years ago.
Chief Justice John Roberts would have stopped short of ending the abortion right, noting that he would have upheld the Mississippi law at the heart of the case, a ban on abortion after 15 weeks, and said no more.
Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan — the diminished liberal wing of the court — were in dissent.
The ruling is expected to disproportionately affect minority women who already face limited access to health care, according to statistics analyzed by The
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