fFor supporters of liberal abortion laws in the United States, their worst nightmare became reality on Friday. In the second announced decision of the day, the Supreme Court overturned the nation’s abortion law — a ruling that had been feared since a Supreme Court draft suggesting just that was pushed through in the news magazine Politico in early May.
By overturning the nearly 50-year-old landmark 1973 decision on abortion, the court is returning the responsibility to the states to regulate abortion laws. In concrete terms, this means that in almost half of the American states, abortions are significantly restricted or even banned after a court decision or after a short period of time. In 13 states, abortions will be illegal in the future with few exceptions – Missouri started on Friday. In Texas, starting in 30 days, women will no longer be allowed to have abortions even after being raped.
Footage from Friday shows hundreds of demonstrators in front of the taller than black fence that has been erected around Washington’s Supreme Court since the first protests. Here there are those who cheer the decision and those who have tears in their eyes because of it. According to Roe v. Wade derived the right to an abortion from the 14th Amendment and privacy protections; to date, abortions have been possible up to about the 24th week.
Abortion law in Mississippi as an occasion
In the 79-page justification for the Supreme Court’s decision, the conservative judge Samuel Alito now writes, verbatim with the pierced draft, that the fundamental decision at the time was “grossly wrong”. “The rationale was extraordinarily weak and the decision had devastating consequences.” The ruling marks the culmination of decades of anti-abortion efforts to put decision-making power back in the hands of the states.
The reason for the decision was the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a 2018 Mississippi abortion law banning abortion after the 15th week. The only women’s hospital in Mississippi had sued against this law. In that decision, six judges, including Supreme Court President John Roberts, came to the conclusion that the law is legal. The three liberal judges voted against. As early as December, at the hearing on the Mississippi law, liberal judge Sonia Sotomayor spoke of a “legal earthquake” if the landmark decision was made.
In a joint minority opinion, the three liberal judges wrote on Friday: “With concern – for this court, but even more for the millions of American women who today have lost fundamental protections under the Constitution – we disagree.” Constitutional Court President Roberts, whose decision After being pierced with great interest, he spoke out in favor of the Mississippi law but made it clear that he did not want to restrict abortion rights to the now drastic extent.
“Big day for unborn babies and their mothers”
President Joe Biden, who had already spoken out in favor of women’s freedom of choice after the pierced draft, heavily criticized the Supreme Court’s decision on Friday, calling it a “tragic error”. It was “a sad day for the court and for this country,” he said in a statement scheduled at short notice. “The health and life of women in this country are now in danger.” He wanted to repeat very clearly: Every woman has the right to travel to other states.