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Saturday 25 June 2022

Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade; states can ban abortion

Continued from Front to same-sex intimacy and
marriage. And finally, it un-
Outside the White House, dermines the Court’s legiti-
Ansley Cole, a college stu- macy.”
dent from Atlanta, said she And Thomas, the member
was “scared because what of the court most open to
are they going to come af- jettisoning prior decisions,
ter next? ... The next elec- wrote a separate opinion
tion cycle is going to be in which he explicitly called
brutal, like it’s terrifying. on his colleagues to put
And if they’re going to do the Supreme Court’s same-
this, again, what’s next?” sex marriage, gay sex and
Marjorie Dannenfelser, contraception cases on
president of SBA Pro-Life the table.
America, agreed about But Alito contended that his
the political stakes. analysis addresses abortion
“We are ready to go on of- only. “Nothing in this opin-
fense for life in every single ion should be understood
one of those legislative to cast doubt on prece-
bodies, in each statehouse dents that do not concern
and the White House,” abortion,” he wrote.
Dannenfelser said in a Whatever the intentions of
statement. the person who leaked Ali-
Trump praised the ruling, Abortion right activists gather outside the Supreme Court in Washington, Friday, June 24, 2022. to’s draft opinion, the con-
telling Fox News that it “will Associated Press servatives held firm in over-
work out for everybody.” turning Roe and Casey.
The decision is expected to and their elected represen- is legal and also “work with they are pregnant. In his opinion, Alito dis-
disproportionately affect tatives,” Alito wrote, in an other arms of the federal In roughly a half-dozen missed the arguments in
minority women who al- opinion that was very simi- government that seek to other states, including West favor of retaining the two
ready face limited access lar to the leaked draft. use their lawful authorities Virginia and Wisconsin, the decisions, including that
to health care, according Joining Alito were Thomas to protect and preserve fight will be over dormant multiple generations of
to statistics analyzed by The and Justices Neil Gorsuch, access to reproductive abortion bans that were American women have
Associated Press. Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Co- care.” enacted before Roe was partly relied on the right to
It also puts the court at ney Barrett. The latter three In particular, Garland said decided in 1973 or new abortion to gain economic
odds with a majority of justices are Trump appoin- that the federal Food and proposals to sharply limit and political power.
Americans who favored tees. Thomas first voted to Drug Administration has when abortions can be Changing the makeup of
preserving Roe, according overrule Roe 30 years ago. approved the use of Mife- performed, according to the court has been central
to opinion polls. Four justices would have left pristone for medication Guttmacher. to the anti-abortion side’s
Surveys conducted by The Roe and Casey in place. abortions. Outside the barricaded Su- strategy, as the dissenters
Associated Press-NORC The vote was 6-3 to uphold More than 90% of abortions preme Court, a crowd of archly noted. “The Court
Center for Public Affairs the Mississippi law, but Chief take place in the first 13 mostly young women grew reverses course today for
Research and others have Justice John Roberts didn’t weeks of pregnancy, and into the hundreds within one reason and one rea-
shown a majority in favor join his conservative col- more than half are now hours of the decision. Some son only: because the
of abortion being legal in leagues in overturning Roe. done with pills, not surgery, shouted, “The Supreme composition of this Court
all or most circumstances. He wrote that there was no according to the Guttm- Court is illegitimate,” while has changed,” the liberal
But many also support re- need to overturn the broad acher Institute, a research waves of others, wearing justices wrote.
strictions especially later in precedents to rule in Missis- group that supports abor- red shirts with “The Pro-Life Mississippi and its allies
pregnancy. Surveys consis- sippi’s favor. tion rights. Generation Votes,” cele- made increasingly aggres-
tently show that about 1 in Justices Stephen Breyer, So- Mississippi’s only abortion brated, danced and thrust sive arguments as the case
10 Americans want abor- nia Sotomayor and Elena clinic, which was at the their arms into the air. developed, and two high-
tion to be illegal in all cases. Kagan — the diminished center of Friday’s case, The Biden administra- court defenders of abortion
The ruling came more than liberal wing of the court — continued to see patients tion and other defend- rights retired or died. The
a month after the stunning were in dissent. Friday. Outside, men used ers of abortion rights have state initially argued that its
leak of a draft opinion by “With sorrow—for this Court, a bullhorn to tell people in- warned that a decision law could be upheld with-
Justice Samuel Alito indi- but more, for the many mil- side that they would burn overturning Roe also would out overruling the court’s
cating the court was pre- lions of American women in hell. Clinic escorts wear- threaten other high court abortion precedents.
pared to take this momen- who have today lost a fun- ing colorful vests used large decisions in favor of gay Justice Anthony Kennedy
tous step. damental constitutional speakers to blast Tom Pet- rights and even potentially retired shortly after the
Alito, in the final opinion is- protection—we dissent,” ty’s “I Won’t Back Down” at contraception. Mississippi law took effect
sued Friday, wrote that Roe they wrote, warning that the protesters. The liberal justices made in 2018 and Justice Ruth
and Planned Parenthood abortion opponents now Mississippi, Alabama, Ken- the same point in their Bader Ginsburg died in
v. Casey, the 1992 decision could pursue a nationwide tucky and Missouri are joint dissent: The majority September 2020. Both had
that reaffirmed the right to ban “from the moment of among 13 states, mainly “eliminates a 50-year-old been members of a five-
abortion, were wrong had conception and without in the South and Midwest, constitutional right that justice majority that was
to be be overturned. exceptions for rape or in- that already have laws on safeguards women’s free- mainly protective of abor-
“We therefore hold that the cest.” the books to ban abortion dom and equal station. It tion rights.
Constitution does not con- Attorney General Merrick in the event Roe was over- breaches a core rule-of- In their Senate hearings,
fer a right to abortion. Roe Garland said in a state- turned. Another half-doz- law principle, designed to Trump’s three high-court
and Casey must be over- ment that the Justice De- en states have near-total promote constancy in the picks carefully skirted ques-
ruled, and the authority partment will protect pro- bans or prohibitions after 6 law. In doing all of that, it tions about how they would
to regulate abortion must viders and those seeking weeks of pregnancy, be- places in jeopardy other vote in any cases, including
be returned to the people abortions in states where it fore many women know rights, from contraception about abortion.q