Justice Samuel Alito presented the lead opinion which he wrote.
Roe was incorrect from the beginning. He said its reasoning was weak. The inescapable conclusion is that a right to abortion is not part of the Nation's history.
We were aware that this was going to happen. Those words are an exact match to the draft version of the opinion which was first leaked. The advance notice doesn't make the repeal any less important. The decision will have a domino effect on healthcare across the country.
In a concurring opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote, "in future cases, we should reexamine all of this Court's substantive due process precedents." Three previous rulings protect contraceptives, same-sex relationships and same-sex marriage.
The Supreme Court ruled last year on a case that challenged the legality of abortion. The only abortion care provider in Mississippi filed a lawsuit against the state after it enacted a ban on abortions past 15 weeks. In May 2021, the Supreme Court accepted the case.
Mississippi passed a law that effectively banned all abortions after six weeks as pregnant women are rarely detected that early. The new Supreme Court decision means that the law can go into effect even though it was blocked by an appeals court. Mississippi isn't the only state with this problem.
In the lead-up to the ruling, many states have enacted extreme restrictions on abortion. A 6 week abortion ban has been in effect in Texas. The governor of Oklahoma signed a bill prohibiting abortion at fertilization. Trigger laws are pieces of legislation that are meant to go into effect immediately after the repeal of the abortion law. The Guttmacher Institute says that 13 other states are likely to outlaw abortion.
Penalties for both people seeking abortion care and abortion providers are outlined in many of the laws. Penalties include fines and civil action. People are facing legal consequences in the wave of anti- abortion legislation. The woman was charged with murder after she tried to get an abortion. It is a sign that the charges were dropped.
It is possible that online activity will be included in the anti-abortion enforcement toolkit. A woman was imprisoned in Mississippi in 2020 because of her internet searches. If you're looking for information about abortion care on the internet, there are ways to protect yourself. Not all the information you see on search engines is legit.
It will not end in the U.S. with the end of abortion. According to data from Guttmacher, abortions are the same in countries with existing bans as they are in countries where it is legal. Without a federal law that protects a person's right to an abortion, safe abortion won't be as accessible as it could be. There will be more deaths and suffering as a result.
In-clinic abortions are not the only way to get safe abortions. As of 2021, mail can be used to send medication abortions, which are safe and effective in early pregnancies. The coat hanger analogy is no longer appropriate. There are consequences to abortion bans. Maternal mortality rates were higher in states with more restrictions on abortion.
A study done by the University of California, San Francisco found that people denied abortion care have higher rates of poverty, debt, bankruptcy, illness, and eviction. The people denied faced higher rates of domestic violence and life threatening pregnancies. The researchers found that children born as a result of abortion denial were more likely to be poor and less developed than the general population.
By five decades, healthcare will be back to it's pre-repeal state. The people who are most vulnerable will suffer the most. All is still possible.
Many parts of the U.S. have laws codifying the right to an abortion. Many groups and advocacy organizations are still fighting to ensure that abortions remain safe and accessible for people all over the world.
The full opinion is embedded below.
There is an update scheduled for 10:45 a.m. on 6/24/2022. Additional information has been added from Justice Thomas.
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