Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade

The U.S. Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade, allowing states to ban abortions.

The Court has ended constitutional protections for abortion that had been in place nearly 50 years – a decision by its conservative majority to overturn the court’s landmark abortion cases.

Friday’s outcome overturning Roe v. Wade is expected to lead to abortion bans in roughly half the states.

The decision, unthinkable just a few years ago, was the culmination of decades of efforts by abortion opponents, made possible by an emboldened right side of the court that has been fortified by three appointees of former President Donald Trump.

Three of the court’s liberal justices wrote in a joint dissent that the decision would bring “sorrow” for the many millions of American women will be losing a “fundamental constitutional protection.”

The ruling came more than a month after the stunning leak of a draft opinion by Justice Samuel Alito indicating the court was prepared to take this momentous step.