WASHINGTON —
In a historic reversal, the Supreme Court on Friday overturned the landmark 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision and ruled that states may again outlaw abortion.
The court’s conservative majority said the Constitution does not protect the right to abortion, instead leaving the decision in the hands of state lawmakers.
The 5-4 ruling marks the most significant curtailing of an established constitutional right in the court’s history.
The opinion written by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. closely tracks a draft that was leaked by Politico in May.
“We hold that Roe and [1992’s Planned Parenthood vs.] Casey must be overruled,” Alito wrote. “The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision, including the one on which the defenders of Roe and Casey now chiefly rely — the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.”
The opinion was joined by Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil M. Gorsuch, Brett M. Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. did not join the majority opinion in overturning Roe, saying he would have upheld only a Mississippi 15-week ban on abortion. His vote made for a 6-3 decision to uphold Mississippi’s law.
“The Court’s decision to overrule Roe and Casey is a serious jolt to the legal system,” Roberts wrote.
The court’s three liberal justices — Stephen G. Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan — dissented.
“Today, the Court … says that from the very moment of fertilization, a woman has no rights to speak of,” their dissent read. “A State can force her to bring a pregnancy to term, even at the steepest personal and familial costs.”
The dissenting justices added, “Whatever the exact scope of the coming laws, one result of today’s decision is certain: the curtailment of women’s rights, and of their status as free and equal citizens.”
The ruling is expected to set off a fierce political fight nationwide and state by…