The Supreme Court on Friday, voted to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision in a 5-4 decision. The ruling, which was issued in 1973, ruled access to an abortion to be a constitutionally protected right across the country. Conservatives had put up a multi-decade effort to overturn the landmark ruling. In recent many Republican led states have passed strict abortion laws that essentially restricted most, if not all, access to abortion in these states.
Politico obtained a draft opinion of the decision, authored by Justice Samuel Alito, in May. 5 of the 6 conservative justices; Alito, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, the last three of whom are Trump appointees, voted with Alito.
The majority opinion cited Roe as being “a national controversy that has embittered our political culture for a half century” and wrote “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,”
The Court’s three liberals voted against measure. In their dissent opinion, they wrote the court “reverses course today for one reason and one reason only: because the composition of this Court has changed. Today, the proclivities of individuals rule” they continued “The Court departs from its obligation to faithfully and impartially apply the law.” And concluded with sayin “With sorrow — for this Court, but more, for the many millions of American women who have today lost a fundamental constitutional protection — we dissent,”
While Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan wrote the dissent, Chief Justice John Roberts supported upholding the 15 week Mississippi ban that brought the question to the court, however argued against going any further “Surely we should adhere closely to principles of judicial restraint here, where the broader path the Court chooses entails repudiating a constitutional right we have not only previously recognized, but also expressly reaffirmed applying the doctrine of stare decisis,”.
This decision represents one of the most important decisions that the court’s supermajority conservative majority has ever issued.
Democrats tried to pass a measure to codify Roe v. Wade in May, however were unsuccessful in doing so. Abortion now becomes an issue to be determined by each state, rather than having federal protections.