The Supreme Court has officially overturned Roe v. Wade, which effectively eliminates a woman’s constitutional right to abortion.
“Roe was egregiously wrong from the start. Its reasoning was exceptionally weak, and the decision has had damaging consequences. And far from bringing about a national settlement of the abortion issue, Roe and Casey have enflamed debate and deepened division,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote in his majority opinion. “
The landmark ruling passed with a 6-3 decision. Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John Roberts and former President Donald Trump: Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett all found in favor of the reversal.
Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan dissented:
“With sorrow — for this Court, but more, for the many millions of American women who have today lost a fundamental constitutional protection — we dissent.”
Alito responded to the dissent, writing: “The dissent is very candid that it cannot show that a constitutional right to abortion has any foundation, let alone a ‘deeply rooted’ one, ‘in this Nation’s history and tradition.'”
He added that “the dissent does not identify any pre-Roe authority that supports such a right — no state constitutional provision or statute, no federal or state judicial precedent, not even a scholarly treatise.”
Several high-profile politicians have reacted to the ruling, including Rep. Cori Bush.
“Abortion care IS health care. It was so before this. And it will remain so after this. We don’t care what a far-right extremist Supreme Court that is in a crisis of legitimacy says. Your racist, sexist, classist ruling won’t stop us from accessing the care we need,” she tweeted.
In October, Rep. Cori Bush testified at a hearing on reproductive rights, where she shared her abortion experience before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, alongside Congresswomen Barbara Lee and Pramila Jayapal.
Bush shared she was a victim of rape.
“To all the Black women and girls who have had abortions and will have abortions, we have nothing to be ashamed of,” Bush said at the time.
