Supreme Court has voted to overturn abortion rights, Roe v. Wade
After almost 50 years, the landmark decision of Roe v. Wade which generally protects a pregnant woman's liberty to choose to have an abortion have been overturned by the Supreme Court of the United States. (Link to the Case Digest of Roe v. Wade)
"Roe was egregiously wrong from the start," Justice Samuel Alito wrote in his majority opinion. "Its reasoning was exceptionally weak, and the decision has had damaging consequences. And far from bringing about a national settlement of the abortion issue, Roe and Casey have enflamed debate and deepened division."
The Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on Friday, holding that there is no longer a federal constitutional right to an abortion. The opinion is the most consequential Supreme Court decision in decades and will transform the landscape of women's reproductive health in America.
A lot of protesters had taken the streets to voice their dismay regarding the recent ruling of the Supreme Court.
Going forward, abortion rights will be determined by states, unless Congress acts. Already, nearly half of the states have or will pass laws that ban abortion while others have enacted strict measures regulating the procedure.
Will abortion become illegal everywhere in the U.S.?
No. Individual states will decide whether and when abortions will be legal. Many states will continue to allow them, and some have even begun making provisions to help serve women who live in states that are likely to restrict abortion.
Abortion is prohibited in several states
In at least seven states, state officials say that abortion bans can now be enforced. Three states -- Kentucky, Louisiana and South Dakota -- have so-called "trigger bans" that went into effect automatically upon the Supreme Court's ruling. Ten other states have trigger bans with implementation mechanisms that occur after a set period or after a step taken by a state government entity. Among the trigger-ban states in the latter category, Missouri has already made the move required to implement its ban on abortion, with state Attorney General Eric Schmitt announcing Friday that he had taken the step of certification laid out by Missouri law. It's likely that elsewhere in the country, state legislatures will soon be called back into session to pass strict abortion laws that previously would have run afoul of Roe.