The US Supreme Court has struck down Roe vs Wade, the legal decision that has enshrined the constitutional right to an abortion for nearly 50 years, in a dramatic ruling by the court’s conservative majority that will shake up American society, politics and jurisprudence for years to come.
In the decision authored by Justice Samuel Alito, the justices of the Supreme Court upheld a state law in Mississippi that bans abortion after 15 weeks. They also went further, saying that the Roe vs Wade ruling of 1973 was incorrectly decided. The court’s three liberal justices — Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Stephen Breyer — dissented.
The court’s ruling was one of its most intensely anticipated in years — even more so after a draft of the majority opinion heralding its final decision to overturn Roe vs Wade was published by Politico in April, triggering a highly unusual probe within the institution into the leak.
It is a major victory for anti-abortion advocates who have crusaded against Roe for decades. Abortion-rights supporters, meanwhile, fear it will result in widespread bans on the procedure in many Republican-led states, and protests are expected in several major cities later on Friday and through the weekend.
Speaking from the White House on Friday, US president Joe Biden said it was a “sad day for the court and for the country”.
“Let’s be very clear, the health and life of women of this nation are now at risk,” he said.
The majority opinion said the US Constitution “does not prohibit the citizens of each state from regulating or prohibiting abortion”, adding that Roe and a subsequent decision that confirmed it, Planned Parenthood vs Casey, “arrogated that authority. We now over-rule those decisions and return that authority to the people and their elected representatives.”
Dissenting justices argued that there was no new justification to overturn Roe and Casey, which had stood for decades. “Neither law nor facts nor attitudes have provided any new reasons to reach a different result than Roe and Casey did,” they wrote. “All that has changed is this court.”
“Today the court . . . says that from the very moment of fertilisation, a woman has no rights to speak of,” they added. “A state can force her to bring a pregnancy to term, even at the steepest personal and familial costs.”
John Roberts, chief justice, agreed with ruling in Mississippi’s favour but supported a more narrow decision that would have kept Roe in place. He argued that the Supreme Court should instead discard the rule in Roe and Casey that allows the termination of a pregnancy up until a foetus is deemed “viable”, or able to survive outside the womb.
“None of this, however, requires that we also take the dramatic step of altogether eliminating the abortion right first recognised in Roe,” he wrote.
Lynn Fitch, the Mississippi attorney-general, said in a statement: “Today marks a new era in American history — and a great day for the American people. Roe vs Wade is now behind us, consigned to the list of infamous cases that collapsed under the weight of their errors.”
In denying a constitutional right to an abortion, the court has effectively given a green light for states to enact abortion laws that can be as restrictive as they wish. Several states run by Republican-led governors and legislatures have already passed laws that mean more restrictions on abortion will be automatically implemented if Roe is overturned.
Merrick Garland, US attorney-general, in a statement underscored that the ruling did not “eliminate the ability of states to keep abortion legal within their borders,” and that the constitution still restricted “states’ authority to ban reproductive services provided outside their borders”.
Biden called for Congress to codify abortion rights into federal law, and said the federal government would seek to protect Americans’ rights to travel across state lines to seek abortions in states that still allowed them.
The sweeping opinion in the Mississippi case was made possible by the appointment of three conservative Supreme Court justices during the presidency of Donald Trump, who secured their confirmation through the then Republican-led Senate. The court’s conservative majority is now so strong that it can afford to lose the support of Roberts, who is considered a more moderate conservative, and still prevail in key rulings.
Earlier this year, the Democratic-led Senate confirmed Ketanji Brown Jackson, a liberal nominated by Biden, to be a justice on America’s highest court. Since she is replacing Breyer, another liberal, her appointment will not affect the court’s balance of power.
The Supreme Court ruling on abortion was released with less than five months to go before November’s midterm elections, and may alter the political dynamic, though it is unclear whether it can overpower the impact of high inflation and economic perceptions as a factor for voters.
With polls showing that a majority of Americans are opposed to overturning Roe vs Wade, Democrats are hoping that the ruling would trigger outrage, mobilise its base and attract moderate swing voters who will see Republican positions on the issue as increasingly extreme.
“This fall, Roe is on the ballot,” Biden said on Friday.
But Republicans believe that disappointment with Biden’s handling of the economy, and high consumer prices will give them a strong chance of recapturing control of the House of Representatives and possibly even the Senate.
Democrats reacted swiftly. “Today, the Republican-controlled Supreme Court has achieved the GOP’s dark and extreme goal of ripping away women’s right to make their own reproductive health decisions,” said Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Many Republicans celebrated. “The Supreme Court’s landmark ruling . . . is courageous and correct,” said Mitch McConnell, the Senate’s top Republican.
