The End of Roe
nytimes.comThe Supreme Court has overturned the constitutional right to an abortion in America. The court’s decision issued yesterday is the culmination of a generational conservative campaign to strike down Roe v.
Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that established abortion rights. The three conservative justices whom Donald Trump appointed to the court supplied the votes to finally do so. “The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the majority.
Roe’s fall is a political and social earthquake, one that Americans alternately celebrated and mourned. “I cannot think of a precedent for this in our modern history, where you have an individual civil right that people depend on that has been rolled back after 50 years,” said my colleague Emily Bazelon, who writes about abortion access and the court.
Yesterday’s ruling won’t end the abortion debate, but it will fundamentally alter it. Today’s newsletter explains what the decision means, and what may follow.
