Protesters have taken to the streets in cities across the US to protest the US Supreme Court’s overturn of the landmark 1973 Roe v Wade abortion ruling — fearing weeks of violence across the country.
Angry crowds also gathered outside the Washington DC Supreme Court building, where anti-abortion activists erupted in cheers following the ruling, while some abortion rights advocates were in tears.
US President Joe Biden condemned the decision, which will drastically change the lives of millions of women and increase tensions in a highly polarized country.
Biden condemned the ruling as an “extreme and dangerous path”.
“It’s a sad day for the court and the country,” he said.
“The court has done what it has never done before expressly take away a constitutional right so fundamental to so many Americans.”
There were protests in cities such as New York, Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, and Seattle.
In response to the court’s ruling, ten people were arrested late Friday (local time) in Oregon during a “Night of Rage” demonstration. In Iowa, a person was injured by a truck that appeared to be driving through a protest.
Elsewhere, the US Department of Homeland Security warned of possible violence and extremist activity in response to the landmark ruling.
A memo from the DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis warned that federal and state officials, including judges, are likely “most at risk for violence in response to the decision.” It noted that potential violence was expected “weeks” after Friday’s decision and that domestic violence extremists “may be mobilized to respond to changes in state laws and voting measures” related to abortion.
The assessment, DHS said in the memo, was based on increased violent incidents after a draft was leaked last month. Past incidents cited in the message have included arson attacks at pregnancy, vandalism education centers, and threats against “religious institutions perceived as opponents of abortion.”
Court upholds state abortion ban.
It followed the court in a 6-3 ruling, backed by the conservative majority, upholding a Republican-backed Mississippi law banning abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
The vote was 5-4 to overthrow Roe, with Conservative Chief Justice John Roberts saying he would have upheld Mississippi law without erasing the Roe precedent altogether.
The decision will intensify the debate over the court’s legitimacy, once an unassailable cornerstone of the American democratic system but increasingly scrutinized for its more aggressively conservative choices.
The ruling restored the ability of states to ban abortion, and 26 countries are certain or likely to take that step.
Mississippi is one of 13 states with so-called trigger laws to ban abortion, with Roe being quashed.
In a unanimous opinion that raised concerns that judges could roll back other rights, conservative judge Clarence Thomas urged the court to reconsider past rulings protecting the right to contraception, legalizing same-sex marriage, and invalidating state laws banning gay sex. to make.
Judge Brett Kavanaugh seemed to reject an idea advocated by some anti-abortion advocates. The next step was for the court to outlaw abortion.
“The Constitution does not prohibit abortion or legalize abortion,” Judge Kavanaugh wrote.
Biden said empowering states to ban abortion made the US an outlier among developed countries in protecting reproductive rights.
He said his administration would protect women’s access to drugs approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, including birth control and abortion pills.
The ruling is expected to spark a fierce political battle in the US over whether abortion should be restricted or banned completely. It will almost make the abortion debate a major part of the upcoming midterm elections.
“Roe will be at the polls this fall,” Biden said, calling on Congress to pass legislation that restores the nationwide right to abortion.
“The health and lives of women in this country are now at stake.”
America is destroying abortion laws
World reacts to US statement
Britain, France, and others called the ruling a step backward. The Vatican praised it and said it challenged the world to think about issues of life.
US companies, including Walt Disney, AT&T, and Facebook, said they would cover workers’ costs if they now had to travel for abortion services.
“The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and such a right is not implicitly protected by any constitutional provision,” Judge Samuel Alito wrote in the ruling.
Roe v Wade acknowledged that the right to personal privacy under the Constitution protects a woman’s ability to terminate her pregnancy.
“Roe was wrong from the start. The reasoning was exceptionally weak, and the decision has had damaging consequences,” said Justice Alito.
The court’s three liberal judges — Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan — have jointly expressed dissenting views.
“Whatever the precise scope of the forthcoming laws, one result of today’s decision is certain: the curtailment of women’s rights and their status as free and equal citizens,” they wrote.
The ruling gave US states the power to ban abortion just a day after the court’s conservative majority issued another decision that curtailed states’ ability to impose gun restrictions.
The abortion and gun rulings illustrate the polarization in America on a range of issues, including race and voting rights.
Overthrowing Roe has long been a goal of Christian conservatives and many Republican officeholders, including former President Donald Trump. As a presidential candidate in 2016, he promised to appoint Supreme Court justices who would roll back Roe.
He appointed three to the bench during his tenure, all of whom joined the majority in the ruling.
Asked in a Fox News interview if he deserved any credit for the ruling, Mr. Trump said, “God made the decision.”
