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 on Friday 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. He noted that its reasoning was exceptionally weak, and the decision has had damaging consequences. The final vote was 6-3, as the court decided it is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.
Legal Dissent and Expert Reactions
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.”
Legal experts react with shock and dismay, as the ruling leaves open the possibility of a nationwide abortion ban. “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 Edward R. Utley Professor of Health Law, Bioethics, and Human Rights and a School of Law professor of law. Huberfeld notes that while the implication is not that abortion is outlawed across the nation, the Supreme Court has said that the US Constitution doesn’t have much to say about this issue.
The Impact on State Legislation
Huberfeld says 13 states have trigger laws that either outlaw or significantly restrict access to abortion almost immediately, and another 9 states had laws on the books before Roe that outlawed abortion. When you put all of these different kinds of laws together, in half of states, abortion will now be significantly restricted or outlawed. In response, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker signed an executive order that he says will “protect reproductive health care providers who serve out-of-state residents.”
Public Opinion and Statistical Data
The lengthy 78-page decision seems to be at odds with public opinion. As one example, a recent SCOTUSPoll found the following sentiments regarding the overturning of the precedent:
| Category | Data Point |
|---|---|
| Oppose overturning Roe v. Wade | 62.3% |
| Support overturning Roe v. Wade | 37.8% |
| States with trigger laws | 13 |
| States with pre-Roe outlaw laws | 9 |
The Deciding Case: Dobbs v. Jackson
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. But that law had not yet gone into effect because lower courts had ruled that it was not in line with Roe V. Wade. The Court’s ruling on Friday now clears the way for the Mississippi law, and others like it, to be enacted.
Regarding this shift, BU President Robert A. Brown says: “I believe the Court’s official decision today to annul the 1973 decision of Roe v. Wade is an enormous step backward in protecting the rights of all women in our country. This decision denies women the right to make their own decisions about their reproductive health.”