US Supreme Court ends constitutional protections for abortion

The Supreme Court of the United States on June 24 ended constitutional protections for abortion that had been in place for nearly 50 years in a decision by its conservative majority to overturn Roe vs Wade. The US Supreme Court, in a 6-3 ruling powered by its conservative majority, upheld a Republican-backed Mississippi law that bans abortion after 15 weeks. Friday’s outcome is expected to lead to abortion bans in roughly half the states.

The landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling had recognised a woman's constitutional right to an abortion and legalised it nationwide, handing a momentous victory to Republicans and religious conservatives who want to limit or ban the procedure.

The impact promises to be transformational. Twenty-six states either will or are likely to ban almost all abortions, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that backs abortion rights. Thirteen have so-called trigger laws designed to automatically outlaw abortion if Roe is overturned.

The decision, which was unthinkable even a few years ago, was the culmination of decades of efforts by abortion opponents, made possible by an emboldened right side of the court that has been fortified by three appointees of former US President Donald Trump.

The ruling came over a month after the stunning leak of a draft opinion by Justice Samuel Alito indicating the court was prepared to take this momentous step. It puts the court at odds with most Americans who favoured preserving Roe, as per opinion polls.

Abortion-rights supporters say overturning Roe will have a devastating impact, threatening decades of economic gain for women and depriving millions of the right to make deeply personal health-care decisions. They say the effect will be especially large for Black and Hispanic women, who are more likely to lack the funds and ability to take time off work to travel out of state for an abortion.

The decision is likely to unleash battles on multiple new fronts, including efforts to block patients from traveling to clinics across state lines and from receiving abortion-inducing pills by mail.

(With inputs from AP, Reuters, Bloomberg)