New Delhi: The US Supreme Court on Friday ended the right to abortion, overturning a 50-year-old ruling that legalised it nationwide. The court struck down the landmark 1973 Roe vs Wade decision, saying that individual states can now permit or restrict the procedure themselves, weeks after an unprecedented leaked document suggested it favoured doing so, the BBC reported on Friday.
"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 said.
According to a report by news agency AFP, Justice Samuel Alito said that in the majority opinion, "abortion presents a profound moral issue on which Americans hold sharply conflicting views.”
"The Constitution does not prohibit the citizens of each State from regulating or prohibiting abortion," he said.
Calling the SC judgement an attack on "essential freedoms", former US President Barack Obama said, "Progress isn’t always a straight line. Today’s Supreme Court decision is wrong but Congress passing the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act is a modest but real step forward. And the fight will go on, thanks to the activists, survivors, and families who continue to demand action."
Following the SC verdict, half of the US states are expected to introduce new restrictions or bans on abortions.
Notably, 13 have already passed so-called trigger laws that will automatically outlaw abortion following the judgement.
According to a study conducted by Planned Parenthood, a healthcare organisation that provides abortions, in total, abortion access is expected to be cut off for about 36 million women of reproductive age.
Meanwhile, barricades were put up around the court to keep back the protesters gathered outside, after an armed man was arrested on June 8 near the home of conservative justice Brett Kavanaugh.
As per a report by AP, President Joe Biden is set to address the nation after the Supreme Court’s landmark verdict.
It is to be noted that the Supreme Court’s verdict goes against an international trend of easing abortion laws, including in countries such as Ireland, Argentina, Mexico and Colombia where the Catholic Church continues to wield great influence.