WASHINGTON (Gray DC) – The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the landmark abortion rights case Roe v. Wade Friday. Justices ruled in favor of a Mississippi law and in doing so, decided abortion should not be protected under the Constitution.
A frenzy ensued outside the nation’s highest court after the conservative-leaning court released its opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. Justice Samuel Alito’s opinion says nowhere in the Constitution is the right to abortion mentioned, so he and his conservative colleagues overturned the decision of Roe v. Wade, which granted those Constitutional protections in 1973.
Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch (R-Miss.) argued for her state’s law in front of the court in December, and said in a video statement, “Roe v. Wade is now behind us, consigned to the list of infamous cases that collapsed under the weight of their errors.”
Fitch believes it is a victory for women, children, and the court itself. The decision came after a draft of the opinion leaked from the court in early May. Supporters of abortion rights prepared for the opinion to come down, but Julie Rikelman, an attorney with the Center for Reproductive Rights who argued on behalf of Jackson Women’s Health Organization, says the fight will go on to protect these rights.
“In the days ahead, the center will work with everyone to preserve access as long as possible,” said Rikelman.
States are now in control of abortion regulation. Thirteen states had so-called “trigger laws” ready to go into effect if justices overturned Roe v. Wade, in some cases outlawing it completely: even in cases of rape and incest.
Paul Schiff Berman, from George Washington University Law, argues these laws could create divisions among states.
“There will be increasing tensions as women try to go from one state to another,” said Schiff Berman.
In his support of the majority opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas alluded to the possibility of other rights being reviewed in the future, like contraceptive rights and LGBTQ rights.
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