The Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade in a historic decision issued Friday, thus ending nearly a half-century of nationwide legalized abortion in the United States.
The decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a Mississippi abortion case, is largely regarded as the Supreme Court’s most anticipated and momentous decision since Roe.
It neither prohibits nor criminalizes abortion, nor does it acknowledge the constitutional right to life of an unborn child. However, the court’s ruling removes entrenched legal hurdles built and strictly maintained by the federal judiciary that have for decades prevented states like Mississippi from severely regulating or forbidding the killing of unborn babies in the womb.
The judgment ushers in a new era of abortion politics in the United States, with the conflict shifting to state legislatures. Those democratically elected governments are now free to debate and regulate abortion as they see proper, just as they did before the Supreme Court federalized the subject.
At the same time, the decision is a watershed moment for the Catholic Church and the broader pro-life movement in the United States, which have worked tirelessly to overturn Roe since the momentous 7-2 decision was handed down on Jan. 19, 1973.
Associate Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. wrote the opinion, which was joined by Associate Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil M. Gorsuch, Brett M. Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett. Chief Justice John Roberts issued a concurring opinion in the judgment. Associate Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonya Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan all voted against the decision.
The outcome of Dobbs was unsurprising, given that the final opinion closely mirrored a draft prepared by Alito in February and disclosed to the public on May 2.
The Supreme Court declared in Roe v. Wade that states could not prohibit abortion before viability, which the court considered to be 24 to 28 weeks into pregnancy. In Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the Supreme Court upheld Roe over 20 years later.
While states might limit pre-viability abortions, they could not impose a “undue burden,” which the court described as “a substantial obstacle in the path of a woman seeking an abortion of a nonviable fetus.”
Mississippi’s Gestational Age Act, which was the subject of the Dobbs case, directly challenged both rulings since it prohibits abortion after 15 weeks, well before viability.