June 24, 2022
Abortion presents a profound moral question. The Constitution does not prohibit the citizens of each State from regulating or prohibiting abortion. Roe and Casey arrogated that authority. The Court overrules those decisions and returns that authority to the people and their elected representatives.
The United States Supreme Court in an official decision setting a new precedent for abortion law in America.
Why It Matters: With this decision, the U.S. Supreme Court removes the previously-held constitutional protection allowing women to have abortions — a protection which has been in place for almost 50 years — and turns the decision back to the states, setting a new precedent for abortion law in the U.S. The Associated Press reports that this ruling "is expected to lead to abortion bans in roughly half the states."
- This case was brought to the U.S. Supreme Court due to a Mississippi abortion law which banned abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy (with some exceptions). The law was challenged by an abortion clinic in Jackson, Mississippi — the state's only abortion clinic — and eventually landed at the Supreme Court for the justices to decide whether the right to an abortion is constitutional.
- An excerpt from the majority decision: "Held: The Constitution does not confer a right to abortion; Roe and Casey are overruled; and the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives."
- This ruling overturns Roe v. Wade, a 1973 ruling by the Supreme Court which established a constitutional right to abortions *with limits.* It also overturns Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the 1992 Supreme Court decision which upheld Roe while giving states broader authority to regulate abortion access.
- An excerpt from the dissenting opinion: "… one result of today's decision is certain: the curtailment of women's rights, and of their status as free and equal citizens … With sorrow—for this Court, but more, for the many millions of American women who have today lost a fundamental constitutional protection—we dissent."
Important To Note: This does not make abortions illegal in the United States; it returns abortion law to the states themselves, which can now choose to ban abortion within their boundaries.
Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade; states can ban abortion (Associated Press)
Here's the official decision from the U.S. Supreme Court: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/19-1392_6j37.pdf
High Stakes (SmartHERNews; More about the Mississippi abortion law and how it landed in the Supreme Court)
Click HERE to watch SmartHERNews' interview Professor Mary Ziegler — legal historian and a leading voice on abortion law in America.
Supreme Court Overturns Roe v. Wade, Eliminates Constitutional Right to Abortion (The Wall Street Journal)
Click HERE to watch Jenna's most recent Instagram stories on this decision.
by Jenna Lee,
