The U.S. Supreme Court has overruled the landmark 1973 decision of Roe v. Wade, concluding that there is no constitutional right to an abortion.
In a decision released Friday in the case of Thomas Dobbs, et. al. v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the high court ruled 6-3 to uphold Mississippi’s Gestational Age Act, which bans most abortions after 15 weeks into a pregnancy.
“Held: The Constitution does not confer a right to abortion; Roe and Casey are overruled; and the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives,” the syllabus to the majority opinion reads.
Justice Samuel Alito authored the majority opinion and was joined by Justices Clarence Thomas, Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch. Kavanaugh, Thomas and Chief Justice John Roberts all wrote concurring opinions.
“We hold that Roe and [Planned Parenthood v. Casey] must be overruled. The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision,” wrote Alito.
“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.”
The majority opinion stated that it is “time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.”
While the Roe opinion made abortion a national right and limited the states’ ability to enact laws restricting abortion before fetal viability, the court’s 1992 ruling in Planned Parenthood v. Casy upheld the right to an abortion established by Roe.
“The critical question is whether the Constitution, properly understood, confers a right to obtain an abortion. Casey’s controlling opinion skipped over that question and reaffirmed Roe solely on the basis of stare decisis,” the syllabus states.
Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan filed a dissenting opinion, claiming that Roe and Casey “struck a balance” between allowing abortion and allowing laws to regulate it. Read more …
*This is a developing story from Christian Post
