What an incredible day for the United States of America!
The Supreme Court overturned the half-century-old ruling in Roe v. Wade that legalized abortions nationwide, giving states the power to determine limits on when a woman can terminate a pregnancy.
A majority of justices, each appointed by Republican presidents, joined the opinion authored by Justice Samuel Alito in the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, ruling Mississippi can maintain its law banning abortion after 15 weeks of gestation. In addition to Alito, those voting in favor were Amy Coney Barrett, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Chief Justice John Roberts.
“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,” a syllabus of the opinion said.
The justices voted 6-3 to strike down Roe. Alito wrote the majority opinion, with Thomas, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett joining. Thomas and Kavanaugh filed concurring opinions, and Roberts filed another opinion concurring with the judgment. Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan dissented.
“Whatever the exact scope of the coming laws,” the dissenters wrote, “one result of today’s decision is certain: the curtailment of women’s rights, and of their status as free and equal citizens.”
The justices in the minority also criticized the majority’s “cavalier approach to overturning this Court’s precedents.”
“The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision, including the one on which the defenders of Roe and Casey now chiefly rely — the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment,” Alito wrote.
“That provision has been held to guarantee some rights that are not mentioned in the Constitution, but any such right must be ‘deeply rooted in this Nation’s history and tradition’ and ’implicit in the concept of ordered liberty.’”
“It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives,” Alito added.
The high court decided Roe in 1973 under a fundamental “right to privacy” inherent in the due process clause of the 14th Amendment, protecting a woman’s choice to have an abortion in a 7-2 ruling.
Years later, the court again reaffirmed Roe when it ruled in a 5-4 decision on Casey, which reversed the previous trimester framework in favor of a viability analysis, allowing states to implement abortion restrictions during the first trimester of pregnancy so long as they did not impose an “undue burden.”
In the initial leaked opinion, Alito maintained that no such right to abortion was part of the right to privacy and that neither of those facets backing the logic behind the landmark 1973 case is actually outlined in the Constitution.
Since the leak, there has been a national outcry among abortion activists voicing the need to protect Roe and Casey, with protests outside the homes of Alito, Kavanaugh, Barrett, and Chief Justice John Roberts — all with President Biden’s express approval.
Tensions escalated earlier this month when an armed man who sought to kill Kavanaugh was arrested near the justice’s home in Chevy Chase, Maryland. The suspect, 26-year-old Nicholas John Roske, had flown in from California and said he was motivated by the leaked draft opinion signaling the curtailing of Roe.
When justices heard arguments over Dobbs in December, the court’s majority of six Republican-appointed justices raised significant doubts about the jurisprudence behind the 1973 and 1992 cases that established the right to abortion in the United States, Roe and Casey, respectively.
In recent months, Republican-led states have adopted restrictive abortion laws, including a Texas law that bans abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected, which is typically around six weeks of gestation. The law went into effect in September and is enforced by allowing private individuals to file lawsuits against anyone who aids and abets an abortion.
The overturning of Roe signals abortion likely becoming illegal in at least 13 states: Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming.
Needless to say, leftists are incensed by the ruling. Pro-abortion terrorist groups are planning a “Night of Revenge” in which they plan to wreak havoc across the U.S., according to a leaked document exposing the group’s plans.
The energy is shifting in America — can you feel it?
Author: Ann Taylor
These content links are provided by Content.ad. Both Content.ad and the web site upon which the links are displayed may receive compensation when readers click on these links. Some of the content you are redirected to may be sponsored content. View our privacy policy here.
To learn how you can use Content.ad to drive visitors to your content or add this service to your site, please contact us at [email protected].
Family-Friendly Content
Website owners select the type of content that appears in our units. However, if you would like to ensure that Content.ad always displays family-friendly content on this device, regardless of what site you are on, check the option below. Learn More
These content links are provided by Content.ad. Both Content.ad and the web site upon which the links are displayed may receive compensation when readers click on these links. Some of the content you are redirected to may be sponsored content. View our privacy policy here.
To learn how you can use Content.ad to drive visitors to your content or add this service to your site, please contact us at [email protected].
Family-Friendly Content
Website owners select the type of content that appears in our units. However, if you would like to ensure that Content.ad always displays family-friendly content on this device, regardless of what site you are on, check the option below. Learn More
