US Supreme Court overturns Roe vs Wade, ending constitutional right to abortion
- Biden condemns the ruling, calling it a ‘sad day’ for America, but says the fight for reproductive rights is not over
- Trump, whose judges were instrumental in the move, says ‘God made the decision’
The US Supreme Court on Friday took the dramatic step of overturning the landmark 1973 Roe vs Wade ruling that recognised a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion and legalised it nationwide, handing a momentous victory to Republicans and religious conservatives who want to limit or ban the procedure.
The court, in a 6-3 ruling powered by its conservative majority, upheld a Republican-backed Mississippi law that bans abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The vote was 5-4 to overturn Roe, with Chief Justice John Roberts writing separately to say he would have upheld the Mississippi law but not taken the additional step of erasing the Roe precedent altogether.
The justices, in the ruling written by conservative Justice Samuel Alito, held that the Roe decision that allowed abortions performed before a fetus would be viable outside the womb – between 24 and 28 weeks of pregnancy – was wrongly decided because the US Constitution makes no specific mention of abortion rights.
By erasing abortion as a constitutional right, the ruling restored the ability of states to ban it, fundamentally altering America’s landscape on the issue of reproductive rights. Twenty-six states are either certain or considered likely to ban abortion. Mississippi is among 13 states with so-called trigger laws to ban abortion with Roe overturned.
US President Joe Biden condemned the ruling, calling it a “sad day” for America and labelling the court’s conservatives “extreme.” He said the fight over abortion rights “is not over”.
Biden said his administration will protect access to contraceptives and will do everything in his power to combat efforts to restrict women from travelling to other states to obtain abortions.