Categories: News

Abortion Rights Ruled Unconstitutional By The US Supreme Court

In a momentous but expected reversal, the US Supreme Court has ruled 6-3 to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that legalised abortion nationwide, and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the 1992 ruling that upheld it. Currently, each state is free to determine its own abortion laws.

“The Constitution does not confer a right to abortion … and the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the decision, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, released Friday.

“It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.”

Justices Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan filed a dissenting opinion, stating, “With sorrow—for this Court, but more, for the many millions of American women who have today lost a fundamental constitutional protection—we dissent.”

After Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court, 26 states are prepared to outlaw abortion through existing restrictions or “trigger legislation” that will immediately take effect without the precedent-setting decision being in place. According to the Guttmacher Institute, a research and policy organisation that promotes legal abortion rights, more than 10 million people of reproductive age would have to travel across state lines to receive the operation in the closest state where it is permitted.

“[People] may seek unsafe ways of terminating a pregnancy and could have harmful consequences,” said Whitney Rice, the director of the Center for Reproductive Health Research in the Southeast at Emory University. “You also have people who may sort of be forced to continue pregnancies to term and could have a risk of infant health outcomes that include low birth weight, preterm birth, or may have a risk of maternal mortality.”

What does the overturn of Roe v. Wade mean?

Since Roe v. Wade was overturned, US abortion rights are no longer protected by the constitution. Individual states are now free to decide whether there should be restrictions on access to abortion or if it should be free. States now have the authority to create new laws, which may potentially make abortion illegal.

What do pro-abortion advocates say?

They assert that the right to an abortion is a question of individual freedom. According to the campaigners, banning or restricting abortions violates the rights of women, who have control over their own bodies and should have the freedom to decide whether or not to carry their pregnancy to term.

What do those who are opposed say?

The claim that abortion amounts to “killing” the unborn child has a lot of supporters. Therefore, abortion is against nature in their eyes. This claim has theological connotations as well, and individuals who oppose abortion are frequently perceived as holding conservative ideas.

When asked if they oppose abortions even when pregnancy is caused by crimes like rape, many “pro-life” proponents remain silent.