Supreme Court Junks Roe v. Wade; Abortion Bans Loom

The United States (U.S.) Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade, overturning constitutional safeguards for abortion that had been in place for nearly 50 years. The verdict on Friday is projected to result in abortion bans in about half of the states, Mark Sherman reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Photo Insert: The decision came more than a month after the shocking disclosure of a draft judgment by Justice Samuel Alito, indicating that the court was ready to take this historic step.

The 5-4 ruling, inconceivable just a few years ago, was the result of decades of efforts by abortion opponents, made achievable by an invigorated right wing of the court strengthened by three Trump nominees.

The decision came more than a month after the shocking disclosure of a draft judgment by Justice Samuel Alito, indicating that the court was ready to take this historic step. According to polls, it puts the court at odds with the majority of Americans who favored maintaining Roe.

In his final conclusion, Alito argued that Roe and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the 1992 case that reaffirmed the right to abortion, were erroneous on the day they were decided and must be reversed.

“We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled. The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision,” Alito said. He wrote that the political branches, not the courts, have the authority to regulate abortion.

Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett joined Alito on the bench. The last three justices were appointed by Trump. Thomas was the first to vote to overturn Roe 30 years ago.

Chief Justice John Roberts would have stopped short of outlawing abortion, saying that he would have sustained the Mississippi legislation at the heart of the case, which prohibits abortion after 15 weeks, but would not have overturned Roe v. Wade.

Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan, representing the court's diminished liberal wing, were in dissent.

“With sorrow—for this Court, but more, for the many millions of American women who have today lost a fundamental constitutional protection—we dissent,” they wrote.

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