Summary
- The US Supreme Court overturns a 50-year-old ruling known as Roe v Wade that guaranteed nationwide abortion rights for women
- It says the Constitution “does not confer a right to abortion” and “the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives”
- The decision means millions of women across the US will lose their legal right to abortion as individual states will be able to make their own laws on it
- US President Joe Biden says the ruling marks a sad day and puts the US on an extreme and dangerous path
- Half of US states are expected to introduce new restrictions or bans – 13 have laws in place that will take effect within weeks
- Large crowds of anti-abortion and pro-choice activists have gathered outside the court – President Biden urges protests to remain peaceful
- The US Supreme Court ruled that American women do not have a constitutional right to abortion
- Conservative Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the 5-4 majority opinion that the 1973 Roe v Wade decision was wrongly decided
- Roe v Wade allowed abortions to be performed before a foetus could be viable outside the womb, which occurs at between 24 and 28 weeks of pregnancy
- The ruling does not mean abortion is banned in the US but allows individual states to prohibit the procedure outright. Twenty-six conservative states are either certain or considered likely to ban abortion
- Abortion clinics are already closing around the country as so-called trigger laws take effect to ban pregnancy terminations, with Roe v Wade overturned
- US President Joe Biden expressed dismay at the ruling, saying: “It’s a sad day for the court and for the country”
- Former President Donald Trump – who picked three of the justices that joined the landmark ruling – told Fox News: “God made the decision”
- Protests are planned in at least 70 locations across the nation over the weekend
Protests spread from coast to coast
Protests have rippled outwards from Washington DC, spreading to US cities coast to coast following the ruling.
Demonstrators have been marching in New York, in Chicago and in Los Angeles. The gatherings have been reported by US media to be largely peaceful so far.
Thousands of protesters massed in Manhattan’s Union Square before heading downtown to Washington Square Park.
Activists also rallied in Atlanta, Georgia; Madison, Wisconsin; Jacksonville, Florida; Richmond, Virginia; Nashville, Tennessee; Raleigh, North Carolina; Columbia, South Carolina; Austin, Texas; and Topeka, Kansas.
Demonstrations were reported, too, outside the US embassies in London, UK, and Ottawa, Canada.
Protests – mostly by abortion rights activists – are planned in at least 70 locations across the nation over the weekend, according to CNN.
In Washington DC, one protester Amanda Herring, who is nine months pregnant, showed up with “Not Yet a Human” written in ink across her belly.
