The Supreme Court in its landmark decision of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned the Roe v. Wade judgement of 1973 by striking down the constitutional right to abortion in the country.
The United States Supreme Court in its landmark decision of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned the Roe v. Wade judgement of 1973 by striking down the constitutional right to abortion in the country.
The Bench by its 6:3 majority held that there is no stipulation for a right to abortion in the United States Constitution and the decision of Roe v. Wade was wrong. The authority to regulate abortion must be conferred upon the people and their elected representatives of individual states.
Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett gave the majority opinion.
The four justices who voted against overruling Roe v. Wade were Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.
The Court said that the “Liberty” protected by the 14th Amendment connotes “ordered liberty” which needs to be deciphered by investigating the historical and traditional components of the nation. The Court held that abortion was a criminal offence in three-fourth of the States at the time of the Roe v. Wade judgement. There is no historical record for the acceptance of the right to abortion, rather history has shown a trend of its criminalisation.
In effect, the judgment lays down that the Legislature of each state shall have to decide for itself whether they want to ban or allow abortion in their respective states.
The public reaction to the judgment has been widely divided, with a huge portion of the American population and the Democrats protesting against it, while others hailing the judgment as historic.
An early draft opinion of the case was leaked last month which suggested the court will be overruling Roe v. Wade judgement and withdrawing the federal protection for abortion rights.
