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The Supreme Court has overturned Roe vs. Wade, the ruling that established the constitutional right to abortion in the United States in 1973.
The court's 5-4 decision was announced late Friday morning, June 24.
The ruling gives individual states the power to make their own abortion laws.
“The Constitution does not confer a right to abortion," the majority opinion, written by Justice Samuel Alito said. "Roe and Casey are overruled; and the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives."
"Roe was egregiously wrong from the start," Alito said. "Its reasoning was exceptionally weak, and the decision has had damaging consequences."
Justices joining Alito were joined by Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.
Chief Justice John Roberts did not join a dissenting opinion written by Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan, instead saying he would have upheld the Mississippi law at question banning abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy without taking the additional step of removing the Roe precedent entirely.
An initial draft majority opinion written by Alito circulated inside the court and was leaked to Politico in May.
This is a developing story. Check back to Daily Voice for updates.
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