Last week’s Supreme Court decision to side on cases that restrict abortion have many pro-life groups happy.
On June 24, the Supreme Court issued a ruling in the case known as Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. The case was examining the constitutionality of a Mississippi law which banned most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The Court upheld the law by a 6-3 vote, according to SCOTUSblog. In a narrow 5-4 vote, the Court also overturned Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey and ruled that the Constitution did not protect access to abortion.
Justice Samuel Alito wrote the Court’s Opinion. Chief Justice John Roberts was the concurring vote who voted to uphold the Mississippi law without overruling Roe. Justices Stephen Breyer, Elena Kagan, and Sonia Sotomayor wrote a joint dissent. According to SCOTUSblog, Alito’s opinion found that Roe had been “egregiously wrong and deeply damaging”. He noted that the Constitution never mentioned abortion and examined nearly 200 years of American law showing that States had been seriously restricting abortion for decades well before Roe v. Wade in 1973.
Susan B. Anthony (SBA) Pro-Life America celebrated the decision, noting that the Court returned the issue of abortion back to elected officials.
“Today marks an historic human rights victory for unborn children and their mothers and a bright pro-life future for our nation,” said SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser in a news release. “Today the Supreme Court, in line with modern science and overwhelming public consensus, recognized the truth in every mother’s heart and that pro-life advocates have argued all along: unborn children are human beings, deserving of protection. Every legislature in the land, in every single state and Congress, is now free to allow the will of the people to make its way into the law through our elected representatives.
The National Right to Life Committee tweeted its support for the decision, calling it a correction of “the most egregious and deadly Judicial ruling,” meaning Roe v. Wade.
According to a report by CNET, Nevada currently permits abortions up to 24 weeks. In 1990, voters passed abortion protections by referendum that cannot be undone by the legislature without action from voters.
Nevada Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) tweeted her reaction to the Dobbs decision, lamenting that “the consequences will be swift and tragic for so many women across America.”
