US Supreme Court ends constitutional right to abortion, half its states may be affected

The top court’s conservative majority overturned the Roe vs Wade decision in 1973 that upheld a pregnant woman’s liberty to choose.

An American flag flies outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. | Bloomberg

New Delhi: The United States’ Supreme Court on Friday ended constitutional protection to abortion that had been in place nearly 50 years, thereby allowing possible bans in roughly half the states in the country.

The top court’s conservative majority overturned the Roe versus Wade decision by the apex court in 1973 in which it had ruled that the Constitution generally protects a pregnant woman’s liberty to choose to have an abortion.

This significant ruling will severely impact the landscape of women’s reproductive health by limiting access to abortion in the US.

The conservative justices said: “We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,” adding, “The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision.”

The court’s three liberal justices dissented.

Casey refers to a 1992 decision – Planned Parenthood versus Casey – which largely upheld the women’s abortion rights guaranteed under the Roe versus Wade decision.

Friday’s critical ruling came in the Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization case which deals with the constitutionality of a 2018 Mississippi state law that banned abortions after the first 15 weeks of pregnancy.

The reversal of the Roe versus Wade will once again permit individual US states to ban abortion – at least 26 states may do it immediately.

The ruling of the conservative-dominated court came after a draft opinion by Justice Samuel Alito was unprecedentedly leaked in early May. The document read: “We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled… It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.”

The Supreme Court’s right leanings have been emboldened by three appointees of former President Donald Trump.

A recent national poll, however, indicated that a majority of Americans did not support overturning Roe versus Wade, the law that legalised abortion in the US.

In the poll, about two-thirds of Americans said they were for Roe, though seven-in-ten US adults said they favoured some degree of restriction on abortion rights.