‘A Dark Day for Our Nation’: Right-Wing Supreme Court Ends Constitutional Right to Abortion

The right-wing majority of the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade on Friday, ending the constitutional right to abortion and imperiling access to reproductive healthcare nationwide.

The 6-3 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization was issued along ideological lines, with all three liberal justices in opposition.

“With sorrow—for this court, but more, for the many millions of American women who have today lost a fundamental constitutional protection—we dissent,” wrote Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and Stephen Breyer in their dissent.

The majority opinion was written by conservative Justice Samuel Alito, whose decision delivers a long-sought victory to the dark money-fueled movement that has been targeting Roe for decades.

More than half of all U.S. states are expected to respond to the decision by enacting total abortion bans, laws that will likely have deadly consequences. In anticipation of the high court’s ruling, Republican lawmakers in states across the nation have already introduced dozens of bills that would restrict or completely prohibit abortion.

In 13 states—Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming—Republican-controlled legislatures have put in place “trigger bans” designed to outlaw abortion once Roe is overturned.

At the national level, top anti-abortion organizations and their Republican allies in Congress are currently plotting their push for a federal abortion ban. Last month, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) signaled openness to legislation barring abortion care at the federal level.

The nation has been bracing for the Dobbs ruling since early May, when a draft opinion authored by Alito was leaked to Politico journalists. The official opinion released Friday aligns with the draft, which was widely condemned as a dangerous attack on reproductive freedoms, privacy rights, and much more.

“The Supreme Court has now mandated forced pregnancy, taking away an intensely personal freedom for pregnant people to make decisions about our own bodies with a doctor or loved one, and instead bringing politicians into your decision and your bedroom,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. “Every woman, every family, every pregnant person should fear what this means for their futures.”

In a letter sent hours before the decision came down, Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) led a group of 20 Democratic congresswomen in imploring Biden to declare a public health emergency to combat the right-wing justices’ assault on reproductive freedoms.

As Amanda Klasing of Human Rights Watch noted in a blog post on Friday, “research has shown that when abortion is banned or restricted, abortions do not cease, they just move underground.”

“This increases the risk both of unsafe procedures and that people will be reported to police or prosecuted for suspected abortions,” Klasing wrote. “The U.S.—which shockingly already has the highest maternal mortality rate among at least 10 other wealthy countries—should brace for maternal mortality and morbidity to rise, particularly among Black people and people living in poverty,” she warned.

Originally published at Commondreams.org, written by Jake Johnson.