The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision Friday, sending the authority to regulate and restrict abortions back to the states.
The majority of justices upheld Mississippi’s 15-week abortion limit at stake in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a case that directly challenged Roe’s ban on most abortion restrictions before fetal viability. Mississippi’s sole abortion clinic filed a lawsuit against the state’s chief health officer, Thomas Dobbs, alleging the restriction was unconstitutional.
“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 court wrote.
Justice Samuel Alito authored the majority opinion and was joined by Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Clarence Thomas, and John Roberts.
The decision effectively returns the legality of abortions or not to the states instead of the Federal government.
