 |
| Photo Credit: AP. |
The U.S. Supreme Court Friday overturned the landmark Roe v Wade ruling which gave woman unprecedented rights to abortion in a move that has brought an end to constitutional right to abortion for millions of American women.
Several weeks ago a leaked document suggested that the apex Court led mostly by Conservative judges would repeal the 50-year-old ruling that legalized abortion for women.
The ruling
now means that individual states in the U.S. can ban the procedure especially
Republican controlled states that are most likely to introduce new restrictions
on the procedures or outright ban in most cases.
Thirteen
U.S. States have already passed so-called trigger laws to automatically outlaw
abortion following the Supreme Court’s ruling, according to the BBC. Up to half
of the 50 U.S. states are expected to tighten or introduce new anti-abortion restrictions.
The ruling
would affect millions of women in the U.S. as abortion access will be cut off for about 36 million women of reproductive
age, according to research from Planned Parenthood, a healthcare organization that
provides abortions, BBC reports. The measure passed by a vote of six to three.
Pro –abortion
and anti-abortion demonstrators rallied outside the Supreme Court before the judgment
came. While pro-abortion activists expressed their resentment at the ruling,
anti-abortion activists celebrated the judgment.
In 1973 the
Supreme Court ruled by a vote of seven to two in a Roe v Wade case that accelerated
women’s right to terminate their pregnancy. The ruling said a woman’s right to
terminate her pregnancy was protected by the US constitution.
It gave
American women an absolute right to an abortion in the first three months (trimester)
of pregnancy but allowed restrictions in the second trimester and for
prohibitions in the third, according to the BBC.
The Supreme
Court had been considering a case, Dobbs v Jackson Women Health’s organization
that challenged Mississippi’s ban on abortion after 15 weeks, according to The
BBC. The ruling today which is in favor of the state effectively ended the
constitutional right to abortion.
According to
the BBC about five judges were firmly in favor:
Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy
Coney Barrett.
Chief
Justice John Roberts wrote a separate opinion saying that, whilst he supported
the Mississippi ban, he would not have gone further, according to the BBC.
Three
justices disagreed with the majority - Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and
Elena Kagan - wrote that they did so "with sorrow - for this court, but
more, for the many millions of American women who have today lost a fundamental
constitutional protection," according to the BBC.
President
Joe Biden denounced the Supreme Court ruling, urging states to enact
legislation to allow abortion and advised women who reside in states where the
procedure is banned to travel to other states that allow it.
The Governor
of Mississippi whose state has been at the center of the case welcomed the
ruling, saying his state had "led the nation to overcome one of the
greatest injustices in the history of our country," according to the BBC.
"This
decision will directly result in more hearts beating, more strollers pushed,
more report cards given, more little league games played, and more lives well
lived. It is a joyous day!" he wrote.