June 24, 2022 – The U.S. Supreme Court voted to overturn the federal Constitution’s right to abortion, leaving the issue to the states to decide. ?????.

About 25 million women of reproductive age will now live in states that ban or severely restrict abortion, according to some estimates, ? Twenty-six states “definitely or likely” ban abortion, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which supports abortion rights.

Thirteen states have so-called trigger laws that could ban abortions almost immediately, while nine other states may now try to impose near-total or draconian bans. The restrictions have been blocked by the courts pending the outcome of the just-released decision. Hours after the ruling came down, at least four states — Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri and South Dakota — had banned abortion. Trigger laws in South Dakota, Kentucky and Louisiana took effect when Roy was overturned. In Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma, state officials moved to activate abortion bans in their states.

Physicians and others who provide abortion services, or in some states “aid or abet” abortions, can be fined thousands of dollars or sent to prison.

The justices voted 6-3 in two cases establishing abortion rights—Roe v. Wade (1973) and Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992)— is never true, and the Constitution never guarantees abortion.

“Roe was horribly wrong from the start. Its reasoning was very weak, and the decision had devastating consequences,” Judge Samuel Alito said in a 116-page opinion published by the majority. wrote in the opinion. “Far from contributing to a national resolution on abortion, Roy and Casey have fueled debate and deepened divisions. Now is the time to focus on the Constitution and put abortion back in the hands of elected representatives.”

Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Stephen Breyer issued a 65-page vehement dissenting opinion. The ruling means “from the moment of fertilization, women have no voice,” they wrote. “A state can force her to complete the pregnancy, even at the greatest personal and family cost.”

Opponents also say it appears that most have given up on following precedent , the principle of respect for precedent. “Today, individual inclinations dominate. Courts have betrayed their duty to apply the law faithfully and impartially,” they wrote.

In this case, the state’s only abortion provider, Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health of Mississippi, sued to block the state’s 2018 law from banning abortion after 15 weeks. The state asked the Supreme Court to rule in its favor and dismiss the precedent-setting case.

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, expressed disappointment with the ruling and said it went against what Gorsuch and Kavanaugh said before being added to the court.

“This decision is inconsistent with what Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh said in their testimony and in their meeting with me, who both insist on the importance of supporting long-standing precedent,” she said in a statement.

Collins’ colleague, Senator. Joe Manchin, Democrat of West Virginia, said a lot of the same thing.

“When Judges Gorsuch and Kavanaugh testified under oath, I believe they also believed that the Roe v. Wade settlement was a legal precedent, and I was shocked They have chosen to reject the stability that this ruling has provided for two generations of Americans,” Manchin said in a statement.

President Joe Biden addresses the nation on Friday and says where does the Supreme Court decide? “The health and lives of women in this country are now at risk.”

Biden also emphasized his administration’s commitment to upholding the right to go abroad for abortions and birth control pills and to treat miscarriages. “Politicians cannot interfere with the decisions that should be made between a woman and her doctor,” Biden said.

The Supreme Court’s decision was not surprising, as the justices said they tended to over-adjust the law v. Wade in oral argument in December. Further revelation of what most were thinking came on May 2 when a draft opinion was leaked to news outlet Politico. ?

But Dobbs’ decision could open the door to wider challenges to established rights. In a majority opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas, in essence, was concerned with the right to contraception (Griswold v. Connecticut, 1965), the right to engage in private consensual sex (Lawrence v. Texas, 2003) and same-sex marriage (Obergefell v Hodges, 2013), saying their decisions were wrong.

Groups opposing abortion rights are preparing to continue their fight and expand to the states.

“A new anti-abortion movement begins today,” Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said in a statement. “We are ready for a life-long offensive in every Legislature, every State Capitol, and the White House.”

Prior to the ruling, 25 medical professional societies representing OB/Gynecologists, Family Medicine Physicians, Fertility specialists, geneticists, hospital doctors, internists, pediatricians, psychiatrists, nurses, nurse practitioners and midwives — had urged the court to strike down the Mississippi law. In June, more than 2,500 medical professionals signed a petition urging courts to uphold abortion rights.

“This is a great day for the fetus and its mother,” Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life, said in a statement. “The Court has correctly decided that a right to abortion is not in the Constitution, thereby allowing the people, through their elected representatives, to have a voice in this very important decision,” said Tobias.