Supreme Court Overturns Roe v. Wade, Ending 50 Years of Abortion Rights
In a stunning reversal of 50 years of precedent, the US Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, which protected the rights of women to seek abortions, leaving individual states free to ban outright or severely limit the right to a procedure that women have had since 1973. “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the majority opinion, asserting that “its reasoning was exceptionally weak, and the decision has had damaging consequences.” The final vote was 6-3, as the conservative-leaning justices ended the long-standing precedent.
Judicial Dissent and Public Sentiment
In the final sentence of the dissent opinion, the court’s liberal justices, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan, wrote: “With sorrow—for this Court, but more, for the many millions of American women who have today lost a fundamental constitutional protection—we dissent.” This lengthy 78-page decision seems to be at odds with public opinion; as one example, a recent SCOTUSPoll found that 62.3 percent of respondents oppose overturning Roe v. Wade, and just 37.8 percent of respondents support overturning it.
“It is hard to overstate how unusual it is that the Supreme Court has overturned a long-standing civil right,” says Nicole Huberfeld, Boston University School of Public Health Professor of Health Law. She notes that while the US Constitution doesn’t have much to say about this issue, 13 states have trigger laws that either outlaw or significantly restrict access to abortion almost immediately. Consequently, in half of states, abortion will now be significantly restricted or outlawed.
The Future of Medication Abortion Access
As restrictions on the procedure multiply, a new case before the U.S. Supreme Court could drastically restrict access to medication abortions, now the most common form of abortion in the United States. This case could roll back rules about drugs used in medication abortions, eliminating virtual clinics and mailed prescriptions at a time when most U.S. abortions rely on pharmaceuticals. The Supreme Court is considering whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration overstepped when it revised requirements for how mifepristone, one of the drugs commonly used in medication abortions, should be dosed and prescribed.
“Missourians already are getting pushed farther and farther from home because they can’t get in for an appointment,” said Emily Wales, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains. Medication abortions, which rely on a regimen of two drugs rather than surgery to end early-stage pregnancies, have played a significant part in keeping abortion access available. A recent Guttmacher Institute report found that medication abortions made up 63% of all abortions last year, when the total number of U.S. abortions surpassed 1 million.
Key Statistics on Abortion Rights and Access
| Data Point | Value / Percentage |
|---|---|
| Respondents opposing the overturning of Roe v. Wade | 62.3% |
| Respondents supporting the overturning of Roe v. Wade | 37.8% |
| Medication abortions as a percentage of all U.S. abortions | 63% |
| States with immediate trigger laws or prior bans | 22 states (13 trigger + 9 pre-Roe) |
| Total U.S. abortions in the last year | Surpassed 1,000,000 |
Regional Legal Challenges
The deciding case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, was argued over a Mississippi law that banned almost all abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Now, the Court’s ruling clears the way for that law and others like it to be enacted. Furthermore, some legal experts suggest one passage in the ruling leaves open the possibility of a nationwide abortion ban through federal law. In response to these shifts, leaders like BU President Robert A. Brown described the decision as an “enormous step backward in protecting the rights of all women in our country.”