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- The Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last week.
- The 1973 landmark ruling established the constitutional right to an abortion.
- Over a dozen states have "trigger" laws meant to immediately outlaw abortion upon a reversal of Roe.
The Supreme Court last week overturned the 1973 landmark Roe v. Wade ruling that established the constitutional right to an abortion.
The opinion in the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization threw out the ruling as the nation's highest court sided with Mississippi and other states, which passed restrictive anti-abortion laws.
Immediately after last week's ruling, politicians on both sides of the aisle issued statements — with Republicans praising the Supreme Court and Democrats slamming the decision.
Over a dozen states have "trigger laws" meant to ban abortion immediately upon the overturning of Roe, as the legality of abortion is now left up to state legislatures.
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The Texas Supreme Court blocked a lower court order late Friday that said clinics could temporarily continue performing abortions after the Roe v Wade decision.
Abortion clinics in Texas have faced instability this week regarding whether they can continue operations.
Immediately after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade Texas implemented a state trigger law that would ban abortion at the moment of fertilization. According to the Texas Tribune, the trigger law would not take effect until 30 days after the Supreme Court ruling. However, a nearly century-old statute, which was established in 1925 but has not been enforced in Texas under Roe v. Wade, could allow prosecutors to bring criminal charges against abortion providers, Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a memo after last week's ruling.
The Texas Tribune reported that on Monday a handful of abortion providers filed a lawsuit to block the pre-Roe law. The state district judge Christine Weems, sided with providers, stating that the law was invalid. On Tuesday, Weems issued a restraining order temporarily blocking the pre-Roe law and allowing clinics named in the lawsuit to resume providing abortions.
Two days later, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed an "emergency motion for temporary relief" to block the clinics from resuming abortion services. On Friday, the Texas Supreme Court had taken Paxton's motion and overruled the lower court decision, according to the Washington Post.
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With abortion outlawed after six weeks in Ohio, physicians in neighboring Indiana described an influx of out-of-state patients seeking care. Among them: a pregnant 10-year-old.
Dr. Caitlin Bernard, an Indianapolis obstetrician-gynecologist, told the Indianapolis Star that just three days after the federal right to an abortion was reversed she received a call from a colleague, a child abuse doctor in Ohio, who needed her help. The physician had a pregnant patient, a 10-year-old, who could no longer legally undergo the procedure in her home state.
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In December 2018, Marshae Jones was shot in the stomach and lost her unborn child. But it wasn't the shooter who was charged with murder. Instead, it was Jones, a Black woman who was pregnant when she was shot, who was indicted for killing her baby.
Prosecutors dropped the case a few weeks later, but the damage was already done. Activists decried the incident as punishing women for pregnancy, and highlighted the dangers of a justice system that holds a fetus' rights over its mother's. Alabama has long had one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country.
Now that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade, cases like Jones' will only become more common as more states ban abortion, according to experts. That's especially the case for women of color, who are already more likely to be charged for manslaughter after having stillbirths, miscarriages, or abortions.
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Since 2000, thirty-seven countries have expanded the legal grounds upon which pregnant people can access abortion, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. Decriminalization, legalization, and eased access are all trending around the globe.
But the Supreme Court's decision earlier this month to overturn Roe v. Wade and kick the question of abortion rights back to the states has made the US a global outlier, as the country walks back nearly five decades of federal protections.
It's a move that Rebecca Gomperts, the founder of several international abortion-rights organizations, isn't particularly accustomed to.
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Justice Clarence Thomas repeated a misleading claim on Thursday that COVID-19 vaccines were developed using cell lines from "aborted children."
On Thursday, the Supreme Court ruled in a 6-3 vote to leave New York's vaccine mandate for healthcare workers in place after petitioners challenged the mandate over its lack of a religious exemption.
In his dissenting opinion, Thomas wrote that the petitioners — which included 16 healthcare workers from the state — "object on religious grounds to all available COVID-19 vaccines because they were developed using cell lines derived from aborted children," citing the petitioners' complaint in his dissent.
While it is true that fetal cell lines were crucial for testing the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, the fact is often misconstrued into debunked claims that recently aborted fetuses were used to create the vaccines or that the vaccines themselves contain aborted fetal cells.
In reality, the cell lines were grown in a laboratory by extracting cells from two elective abortions performed several decades ago, according to a handout guide from the North Dakota Department of Health addressing the subject of vaccines and fetal cell lines. Specifically, the cells came from a kidney cell line isolated from a fetus in 1973 and a retinal cell line from an aborted fetus in 1985.
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A prominent reproductive-rights activist is turning to the abortion pill mifepristone as a possible salve in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.
Rebecca Gomperts, a Dutch physician who founded Women on Waves and several other reproductive rights organizations, has spent the last two decades helping women in abortion-restrictive countries access medical abortion through the use of boats, robots, and drones.
But Gomperts is always interested in the next big thing, she told Insider in an interview this week, and she's betting that the future of reproductive justice might lie in a 50-milligram dose of mifepristone.
Mifepristone, one of two drugs under the umbrella of the "abortion pill," stops pregnancy by halting progesterone production. The medicine is taken orally and can be used to induce abortions up until about nine weeks.
"It has amazing health benefits for women," she said. "It works really well against endometriosis. It works really well against myoma. It's a very effective morning after pill, and it's a very effective contraceptive pill once a week that doesn't have the side effects of hormonal contraceptives."
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A Florida judge blocked the state's 15-week abortion ban that was set to go into effect Friday.
The ban violated Florida Constitution's right to privacy, Leon County Circuit Judge John Cooper ruled.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who signed the restrictions into law, said his administration will appeal the decision.
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President Joe Biden said he now supports the Senate making an exception to the filibuster rule to pass protections for abortion and privacy rights.
"If the filibuster gets in the way, it's like voting rights ... we should require an exception to the filibuster for this action," Biden said
Biden's push to overturn the filibuster has run into opposition from moderate Democrats Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, key votes in the evenly divided 50-50 Senate.
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President Joe Biden will reportedly nominate an anti-abortion judge to a lifetime position in federal court — days after he vowed to protect abortion rights.
Democratic Rep. John Yarmuth and other unnamed officials told the Louisville Courier-Journal that Biden planned to nominate lawyer Chad Meredith, who has defended Kentucky's anti-abortion legislation.
Yarmuth said it was "clear" that the pending nomination was "part of some larger deal" with Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell.
On the day the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe was handed down, Biden vowed to do "all in my power to protect a woman's right in states where they will face the consequences of today's decision."
The White House and McConnell's office did not respond to requests for comment.
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Despite calls from Democrats to protect abortion rights, it's unlikely that the Supreme Court's latest decision to throw out the constitutional right to an abortion will be overturned anytime soon.
"I don't think that we are going to see a reversal in Dobbs," Radhika Rao, a professor at the University of California Hastings College of Law, told Insider. "We're not going to see the return of the abortion right."
Conservative justices have a 6-3 stranglehold on the nation's highest court, while Democrats have too slim of a majority in Congress to overcome Republicans' filibusters.
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George Washington University has rejected calls for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to be fired from a teaching position after he joined the court's other conservative justices in overturning Roe v. Wade.
"Because we steadfastly support the robust exchange of ideas and deliberation, and because debate is an essential part of our university's academic and educational mission to train future leaders who are prepared to address the world's most urgent problems, the university will neither terminate Justices Thomas' employment nor cancel his class in response to his legal opinions," a letter stated.
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A Missouri health system announced it would stop providing emergency contraception over concerns that its patients and staff could be prosecuted under the state's strict new abortion ban — then reversed course hours later.
Missouri was the first state to make abortion illegal after the US Supreme Court on Friday overturned the 1973 landmark Roe v. Wade ruling. Advocates fear that sweeping and vague abortion bans could also impede access to contraception or fertility treatment.
Saint Luke's Health System referenced those concerns in their announcement, saying they would stop giving emergency contraception "until the law in this area becomes better defined."
The medical system later said they would resume giving out the contraception. The sudden shift shows the confusion and uncertainty over how far state-level abortion bans apply.
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As the nation reels from the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, abortion advocates from across the political spectrum have called for sweeping measures from President Joe Biden.
The suggestions raised by these advocates include expanding the Supreme Court, declaring a "public health and national emergency," establishing abortion clinics on federal land, and providing easier access to abortion medication.
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Former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said Clarence Thomas, who she's known since they were at Yale Law School together in the '60s, has always been a "person of grievance."
"I went to law school with him. He's been a person of grievance for as long as I have known him," Clinton said Tuesday during an interview on "CBS This Morning" with Gayle King. "Resentment, grievance, anger," she added.
In a concurring opinion released when the Court overturned Roe v. Wade last week, Thomas wrote "we should reconsider all of this Court's substantive due process precedents" for rulings that granted individuals the right to birth control access, intimate gay relationships, and same-sex marriage.
"He may be on his own, but he's signaling," Clinton said of Thomas. "He has signaled in the past to lower courts, to state legislatures to find cases, pass laws, get them up," she added.
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Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak signed an executive order strengthening protections for out-of-state abortion patients and medical providers in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning the 1973 landmark ruling Roe v. Wade.
The executive order is among a number of countermeasures being taken by Democratic state leaders after the fall of Roe.
"Today, I signed an Executive Order to strengthen protections for reproductive freedom in Nevada. Reproductive health care is a basic human right," Sisolak wrote in a tweet announcing the executive order. "We are committed to ensuring safe access to abortions for women seeking refuge from the restrictive laws in their state."
Abortion rights in Nevada are enshrined in the state's law, making it immune to the impact of a reversal of Roe.
—Governor Sisolak (@GovSisolak) June 29, 2022
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The Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade on Friday sent abortion back to each individual state to decide — and state judges are emerging as key players in the new abortion fight.
Before the Supreme Court decision, 13 states had enacted "trigger" laws designed to ban abortion as soon as Roe fell, others had passed abortion bans or restrictions in earlier years designed to challenge Roe, and still others had pre-Roe abortion bans on their books that courts are now tasked with ruling whether to uphold.
Abortion rights litigants are now turning to state courts and arguing under state laws and constitutions to block those trigger laws and other restrictions, with judges in two states temporarily blocking trigger laws that went into effect on Friday.
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The federal government will make abortion pills more readily available to patients now that states have moved to ban abortion following the Supreme Court overturning its landmark Roe v. Wade decision, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said Tuesday.
Becerra vowed his office will work with federal law enforcement agencies to ensure that states cannot ban abortion pills, as some Republican-led states have tried to do — though it's unclear how the laws would be enforced given that pills are sent through the mail.
"Increasing access to this drug is a national imperative and in the public interest," Becerra said during a 30-minute press conference at the agency's headquarters in Washington, DC.
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The Supreme Court's historic decision to end federal abortion rights in the United States has triggered calls to add more justices to the bench to offset its conservative majority.
But with President Joe Biden against the reform and a lack of congressional support, it's unlikely to happen.
The nation's highest court voted 5-4 on Friday to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision that legalized abortion almost 50 years ago. The consequential decision has led some Democrats and abortion-rights activists to demand for the Supreme Court to be expanded in size — a change that aims to counteract the current conservative majority and its rulings by establishing an ideologically balanced court.
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The conservative Supreme Court justices who voted against Roe v. Wade and stripped away the constitutional right to an abortion had spoken about the importance of legal precedent during their confirmation hearings.
But they had hedged when pressed on how they'd rule in abortion cases.
Video compiled by Insider shows how Justices Clarence Thomas, John Roberts, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett responded when asked if they'd overturn Roe v. Wade.
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A memo to Department of Defense leaders said the military will not stop offering abortions to service members following the Supreme Court's ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade.
The US military will continue to provide abortions when the health of the woman is at risk, the memo stated.
"Nothing is more important than the health and well-being of our Service members, the civilian workforce, and DoD families, and we are committed to taking care of all of our people and ensuring that the entire Force remains ready and resilient," the memo said.
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Facebook and Instagram removed posts about abortion pills immediately after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, according to the Associated Press and Vice.
The AP reported that posts about how to obtain the pills — which refer to two drugs, mifepristone and misoprostol — were pulled off the platforms moments after the nation's highest court stripped away the constitutional right to an abortion.
When reached for comment by Insider, Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, pointed to Meta spokesperson Andy Stone's Monday tweet.
"Content that attempts to buy, sell, trade, gift, request or donate pharmaceuticals is not allowed," Stone said.
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The biological daughter of the woman at the center of the historic Roe v. Wade court case ripped the Supreme Court's decision to overturn the historic ruling — removing the constitutional right to an abortion.
"I believe that the decision to have an abortion is a private, medical choice that should be between a woman, her family, and her doctor," Shelley Lynn Thornton told ABC News. "We have lived in times of uncertainty and insecurity before, but to have such a fundamental right taken away and this ruling be overturned concerns me of what lies ahead."
AP Photo/Andy Manis, File
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers said this weekend that he would offer clemency to any doctors charged under the state's antiquated law banning nearly all abortions, which dates back more than a century.
The 1849 law was enacted long before Roe v. Wade was instated and remained a Wisconsin statute even after the landmark 1973 Supreme Court case rendered it moot. But after the nation's top court overturned Roe on Friday in a 5-4 majority decision, Wisconsin's 173-year-old abortion ban triggered back into effect.
The state's ban makes performing abortions a felony and doctors charged under the statute face up to six years in prison, as well as fines up to $10,000. The law's only exception allows for abortion if it is needed to save the life of the mother. The law does not offer exceptions in instances of rape, incest, or the mother's general health.
Niki Chan Wylie
A Utah judge granted a restraining order that will temporarily block the state's abortion ban from immediately going into effect, allowing doctors to provide abortions for the next 14 days.
The ruling comes after the Supreme Court overturned the 1973 landmark Roe v. Wade decision that granted women the constitutional right to an abortion.
Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union chapter in Utah filed a lawsuit over the weekend in a bid to block the state's "trigger law," which was set to immediately ban abortion in the state following the SCOTUS ruling, which was leaked last month.
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Doug Mastriano won the Republican nomination for governor in Pennsylvania by leaning into the culture war, using his Facebook live streams to rail against vaccine requirements, "Critical Race Theory," and members of his own party who failed to embrace conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.
But this avowed opponent of abortion — who welcomed last week's Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade — is now trying to pivot conversations away from the question of reproductive rights, admitting that the issue is a boon to Democrats.
In an interview with Newsmax on Monday, Mastriano was asked to comment on footage of pro-choice protesters who were dispersed by police with tear gas outside the state capitol in Arizona. Mastriano, who himself was on the front lines between police and protesters at the US Capitol on January 6, per video from the day, praised law enforcement for quelling the civil unrest.
But the state senator also didn't really want to talk about it, he said, insisting that "it's all a distraction."
AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Monday outlined House Democrats' legislative response to Roe v. Wade being overturned, saying her party is looking at codifying a federal right to an abortion.
Pelosi outlined three areas that House Democrats are examining just days after the Supreme Court gutted federal abortion rights, overturning nearly over a half-century of precedent. These are: protecting sensitive data on reproductive health apps, making it clear that states cannot stop people from traveling to seek an abortion, and once again trying to pass a federal law guaranteeing a right to an abortion.
"While this extremist Supreme Court works to punish and control the American people, Democrats must continue our fight to expand freedom in America," Pelosi wrote in a letter to her Democratic colleagues. "Doing so is foundational to our oath of office and our fidelity to the Constitution."
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Vice President Kamala Harris says the Biden administration is not discussing putting abortion clinics on federal lands to bolster abortion access, an idea suggested by prominent progressives like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
Harris, in an interview with CNN's Dana Bash, said she was "shocked" to see the Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade and ending nearly 50 years of federal abortion protections on Friday.
"It's one thing when you know something's gonna happen. It's another thing when it actually happens. And I just actually turned to CNN, and I couldn't believe it," Harris said.
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A Republican candidate for Congress in Virginia questioned whether women who are raped become pregnant, according to audio obtained by Axios Richmond.
Yesli Vega said she wasn't sure how women become pregnant in cases of rape, saying at a campaign event "well, maybe because there's so much going on in the body."
Vega is a sheriff's deputy who won in a crowded GOP primary field to take on Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger in Virginia's 7th District, a highly competitive battleground district in November.
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South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem said her 'heart goes out' to victims of rape and incest, but defended her state's ban on abortions.
Though she said in a Sunday appearance on CBS' "State of the Nation," she sympathizes with assaulted women, Noem added: "What I would say is that I believe that every life is precious."
She went on to confirm that there will be no exceptions to her state's ban — even when a mother's life is at risk.
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Pop star Olivia Rodrigo on Saturday sent a message to the Supreme Court justices responsible for overturning Roe v. Wade, calling them out during her set at the Glastonbury music festival.
Rodrigo invited her guest, British singer Lily Allen, on stage and the pair performed Allen's 2009 song, "Fuck You" — but not before Rodrigo named all five SCOTUS justices who helped gut the landmark ruling that protected abortion rights in America.
"Today is a very, very special day. This is actually my first Glastonbury," Rodrigo said. "But I'm also equally as heartbroken over what happened in America yesterday."
Rodrigo told the crowd that the SCOTUS decision infringed on a woman's ability to secure a safe abortion, which she called a basic human right.
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Right-wing figure Steve Bannon has called for an "army of the awakened" to "shatter" the Democratic party in post-Roe America.
Bannon made a post on Gettr on Saturday lauding the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade, a controversial decision that has led to abortion being halted in some states.
In his post, Bannon called on "the army of the awakened" to rally and capitalize on the verdict.
"This is the key take-away for MAGA … the pro-abortion movement is shattered and is now turning in on itself — because for 50 years they didn't have to work— the Courts and Regime Media covered for them — now The Abyss," Bannon wrote.
"That's the Democratic Party in November— we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to shatter it into a million small pieces," Bannon added, referring to the upcoming midterm elections.
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Staff at an abortion clinic in Texas said they had to turn away people seeking abortions away just minutes after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on Friday.
Speaking to The 19th, an independent news organization, clinic administrator Andrea Gallegos described how she had to turn away a dozen patients waiting in the lobby of the Alamo Women's Reproductive Services clinic in San Antonio, Texas.
Gallegos told The 19th that she and the clinic's staff had to tell the people gathered that, because of the ruling, "unfortunately, your geographical location affects your bodily autonomy."
Per the outlet, Gallegos described the scene at the clinic as being one of "complete despair," with people screaming, crying, and begging for help.
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Los Angeles Police Department officers shoved Jodie Sweetin onto the ground of a freeway in Los Angeles on Saturday during an abortion rights protest, video shows.
The "Full House" and "Fuller House" star, wearing all black with a black backpack, can be seen in a video of the incident with a megaphone in hand when a couple of LAPD officers shove her to the ground.
Protesters can be heard yelling "Jodie, you good?" and "What the f*** is wrong with you guys?"
Sweetin is then picked up and the crowd immediately begins to chant "no justice, no peace."
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A women's health clinic in Austin, Texas, has received dozens of requests for permanent sterilizations after Friday's decision by the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision that established a constitutional right to an abortion.
After the Women's Health Domain closed on Friday evening for the weekend, it received 109 new patient requests, the majority of which were requesting tubal ligation, or permanent sterilization.
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As political analysts seek to understand the possible impact of Roe v. Wade being overturned on this year's midterm elections, some suggest that data from 2018 may reveal possible trends.
In 2018, following the contentious confirmation hearings of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh — who was accused of sexual assault by Christine Ford — 40 Republican US House seats flipped to Democratic candidates. GOP candidates led in polls taken prior to the hearings and went on to lose in November in 27 of those races, indicating increased mobilization among partisan voters following the hearings.
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Republican South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham said Sunday that Justice Samuel Alito, unlike Justice Clarence Thomas, was correct for saying same-sex marriage and contraception would not be affected by the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
In his concurring opinion on the ruling, Thomas wrote "we should reconsider all of this Court's substantive due process precedents" for cases regarding contraceptive access, same-sex relationships, and same-sex marriage.
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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Sunday said she believes it's an "impeachable offense" for a Supreme Court justice to lie under oath.
Following the overturn of Roe v. Wade, Sens. Susan Collins and Joe Manchin said they felt misled by Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch during their individual confirmation hearings. The two senators, both pro-choice, voted to confirm Kavanaugh and Gorsuch because they assured them that they believed Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark Supreme Court decision that made abortion a constitutional right nationwide, was law.
Both Gorsuch and Kavanaugh, however, voted to strike down Roe earlier this week.
Ocasio-Cortez, speaking in an interview with NBC News' "Meet the Press," said she believes the court is facing a "crisis of legitimacy" and justices must face consequences if they lie under oath.
"If we allow Supreme Court nominees to lie under oath and secure lifetime appointments to the highest court of the land and then issue, without basis," she said, "we must see that through. There must be consequences for such a deeply destabilizing action and a hostile takeover of our democratic institutions."
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Sen. Elizabeth Warren said the US Supreme Court has lost all legitimacy following the rollback of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark decision that made abortion a constitutional right nationwide.
Speaking on ABC News' "This Week" on Sunday, Warren suggested that Republicans have tried to stack the Supreme Court with justices who would be against abortion.
"The Republicans have been very overt about trying to get people through the court who didn't have a published record on Roe, but who they knew — wink wink nod nod — were going to be extremist on the issue of Roe v. Wade." Warren said. "And that is exactly what we have ended up with."
"This court has lost legitimacy. They have burned whatever legitimacy they may still have had," Warren continued. "They just took the last of it and set a torch to it with the Roe v. Wade opinion."
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An abortion clinic based in North Dakota has raised more than $550,000 to fund its move in the two days since the Supreme Court's decision to roll back Roe v. Wade.
The Red River Women's Clinic of Fargo, North Dakota, set up a GoFundMe to assist with a planned move to Moorhead, Minnesota. North Dakota is one of the at least 13 states that has a "trigger" law, which immediately bans abortions following the overturn of Roe v. Wade.
But moving out of North Dakota means there will no longer be an operating abortion clinic in the state.
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The American Psychological Association warned on Friday that the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade will exacerbate mental health in the United States.
Research suggests that "adding barriers to accessing abortion services may increase symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depression," APA President Frank C. Wornell said in a statement.
"We are alarmed that the justices would nullify Roe despite decades of scientific research demonstrating that people who are denied abortions are more likely to experience higher levels of anxiety, lower life satisfaction and lower self-esteem compared with those who are able to obtain abortions," Wornell added.
AP Photo/Joe Maiorana
Former President Donald Trump on Saturday thanked his three conservative justice picks on the Supreme Court, all of whom voted to overturn Roe v. Wade.
"Yesterday the court handed down a victory for the Constitution, a victory for the rule of law, and above all, a victory for life," Trump said during a rally in Mendon, Illinois.
"Thanks to the courage found within the United States Supreme Court, this long divisive issue will be decided by the states and by the American people," he added.
He congratulated his three picks — Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett — and praised the decision.
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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Friday shared a personal sexual assault story during a pro-abortion rights rally, saying she felt grateful she had the freedom to obtain an abortion if she needed one in that moment.
"I myself, when I was about 22 or 23 years old, was raped while I was living here in New York City," she told a crowd in New York's City Union Square Park. "I was completely alone. I felt completely alone. In fact, I felt so alone that I had to take a pregnancy test in a public bathroom in midtown Manhattan."
"When I sat there waiting for what the result would be, all I could think was thank God I have, at least, a choice," she continued. "Thank God I could, at least, have the freedom to choose my destiny."
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Journalist and feminist leader Gloria Steinem has slammed the impact of repealing Roe v. Wade will have on democracy, in an email to AP.
"Obviously, without the right of women and men to make decisions about our own bodies, there is no democracy," she said.
She has called for action to fight the Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, protecting US abortion rights.
"Banning abortions does not stop the need. It just bans their safety."
Camila DeChalus
While Republicans are publicly celebrating the overturning of Roe v. Wade, some are privately worrying that the timing could negatively impact the November midterms.
Some Republicans fear the abortion ruling could give Democrats ammunition to attack them and mobilize voters, Politico reported, based on interviews with more than a dozen GOP strategists and officials.
"This is not a conversation we want to have," Republican strategist John Thomas told Politico. "We want to have a conversation about the economy. We want to have a conversation about Joe Biden, about pretty much anything else besides Roe. This is a losing issue for Republicans."
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The Planned Parenthood Association of Utah is suing to stop the state's "trigger law" abortion ban that took effect on Friday following the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
The Utah law makes abortions, with limited exceptions, a second-degree felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File
After Friday's Supreme Court Roe v. Wade ruling, which revoked the constitutional right to abortion, many Republicans celebrated it as a win.
The GOP has long been at the forefront of the fight to restrict abortion access and many Republican-led states have enacted or will enact abortion bans as a result of the decision.
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Georgia Democratic nominee for Governor Stacey Abrams explained in a Friday interview with CNN how her perspective on abortion rights has evolved over the years and how she came to support the right to abortion services after being raised in a religious household.
"I was very much on the side of anti-abortion, through much of my upbringing. I grew up in Mississippi, in a very religious family, in a religious community," Abrams told CNN host Sara Sidner. "And I was raised to have a very uncritical eye to this question."
REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs
Following the Supreme Court's Friday decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, there have been renewed calls from lawmakers and activists to abandon the Hyde Amendment, a legislative provision preventing federal funds from being used on abortion services.
The Hyde Amendment, named for anti-abortion Congressman Henry Hyde who introduced the provision, was passed in 1976, just four years after the landmark Roe vs. Wade ruling that established the right to an abortion. The amendment, which prevents federal funds from services such as Medicaid to be used to provide abortions, was mired in legal challenges for its first years, leading to the Supreme Court case Harris v. McRae.
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As calls for remedies to restrictions on abortion access grow, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Saturday that President Joe Biden "does not agree with" expanding the Supreme Court.
"I was asked this question yesterday, and I've been asked it before... about expanding the Court. That is something that the President does not agree with. That is not something that he wants to do," Jean-Pierre said during a press briefing on Air Force One.
AP Photo/Steve Helber
Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin of Virginia on Friday said he would push for a ban on most abortions after 15 weeks in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade.
Youngkin, who took office earlier this year, said in a statement that the court's decision was an "appropriate" return of power "to the people and their elected representatives in the states."
"Virginians do want fewer abortions as opposed to more abortions," the governor said in a meeting at The Washington Post shortly after the decision was made public. "I am not someone who is going to jump in and try to push us apart … There is a place we can come together."
Youngkin assembled four Republican legislators to help write legislation that could potentially attract bipartisan support in a legislature. In the state, the GOP has a 52-48 majority in the House of Delegates while Democrats have a 21-19 edge in the Senate.
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Kenneth Niemeyer
JACKSON, MS — A man used his truck to block the entrance to Mississippi's only abortion clinic on Saturday as tensions continue to run high at the clinic after the Supreme Court overturned Roe V. Wade earlier in the week.
The Jackson Women's Health Organization, the only abortion clinic in Mississippi, has vowed to remain open for at least nine more days after the Supreme Court voted 5-4 to overturn Roe V. Wade, a landmark decision that legalized abortion nationally.
Mississippi has a trigger law that requires the state attorney general to certify the Supreme Court's decision and allows for the clinic to remain open for 10 days after the certification.
Pro-life demonstrators continued to clash with clinic volunteer escorts, who call themselves Pink House Defenders, on Saturday. The clinic, housed in a large pink building, is commonly referred to locally as the Pink House.
A man in a white truck blocked the entrance to the clinic at least twice on Saturday.
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Four Democratic lawmakers on Friday urged the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Apple and Google's mobile tacking practices regarding abortion seekers.
Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Ron Wyden of Oregon, and Sara Jacobs of California wrote a letter to FTC Chair Lina Khan — accusing Apple and Google of collecting and selling "Hundreds of millions of mobile phone users' data."
The lawmakers argued that for individuals seeking abortion services in states where abortion would be illegal it is essential that their data won't fall into the wrong hands.
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Centrist Senators Susan Collins and Joe Manchin criticized Friday's landmark Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, suggesting they felt misled by Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch.
Collins, a Maine Republican, and Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, both voted to confirm Kavanaugh and Gorsuch.
Both senators are pro-choice and said that the justices had assured them they believed Roe v Wade was settled law.
"I trusted Justice Gorsuch and Justice Kavanaugh when they testified under oath that they also believed Roe v. Wade was settled legal precedent. I am alarmed they chose to reject the stability the ruling has provided for two generations of Americans," Manchin said in a statement.
Manchin, a self-described centrist, was one of three Democrats to vote to confirm Gorsuch in 2017 and the only Democrat who voted to confirm Kavanaugh in 2018. Kavanaugh's 50-48 confirmation vote was historically close.
Manchin said that while he is personally pro-life, he would "support legislation that would codify the rights Roe v. Wade previously protected."
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US Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Tina Smith of Minnesota are calling on President Joe Biden to "declare a public health emergency," following the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
In an op-ed for the New York Times on Saturday, the Democratic senators said that "with the release of the Dobbs decision," the US is facing " a perilous time that threatens millions of women across this nation."
"We urge the president to declare a public health emergency to protect abortion access for all Americans, unlocking critical resources and authority that states and the federal government can use to meet the surge in demand for reproductive health services. The danger is real, and Democrats must meet it with the urgency it deserves," Warren and Smith wrote.
The senators blamed the reversal of Roe v. Wade on "right-wing politicians and their allies" who they said "have spent decades scheming."
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Searches for how to move to Canada spiked over 850% on Google after the Supreme Court ruled to overturn Roe v Wade, Axios reported.
Citing Simon Rogers' Google Trends newsletter, Axios reported that searches for "How to become a Canadian citizen" also rose by 550% as of Friday evening.
In a 5-4 majority opinion, the Supreme Court on Friday overturned the 50-year-old landmark ruling that legalized abortion nationwide.
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A truck drove into a group of pro-choice protesters in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Friday, leading to at least one woman being hospitalized.
The group of mostly women protesters was demonstrating against the landmark Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade when an unidentified man driving a black Ford truck drove into them.
In videos of the incident, protesters can be seen trying to stand in the car's way and shouting at the driver to stop. He accelerates and a protester is knocked to the ground.
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Some of America's most prominent billionaires have denounced the overturning of Roe v. Wade, as Warren Buffett reportedly sets in motion plans for big donations to reproductive rights.
Bill Gates, Melinda French Gates, and George Soros all tweeted their opposition to the Supreme Court decision to roll back abortion rights nationally, overturning a near-50-year precedent.
Bill Gates tweeted: "This is a sad day. Reversing Roe v. Wade is an unjust and unacceptable setback. And it puts women's lives at risk, especially the most disadvantaged."
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Meta has warned employees not to discuss the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade on its internal system and deleting messages that do so, The New York Times reported.
Managers cited a policy that put "strong guardrails around social, political and sensitive conversations" in the workplace, according to company insiders, the newspaper reported.
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The Vatican's Pontifical Academy for Life has praised the US Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v Wade which protected abortion rights for women.
They also called that legislation ensures that those giving birth are given the support needed to keep and care for their children.
In a statement released on Twitter, the Catholic organization said "The fact that a large country with a long democratic tradition has changed its position on this issue also challenges the whole world."
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The Arizona State Senate Building in Phoenix was evacuated on Friday after police deployed tear gas at demonstrators.
A video posted on social media by Republican State Senator Michelle Ugenti-Rita shows dozens of people protesting outside the government building in response to the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
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Jim Obergefell, the plaintiff behind the Supreme Court's landmark ruling on same-sex marriage, said Friday that Justice Clarence Thomas omitted Loving v. Virginia on his list of Supreme Court decisions to "reconsider" because it "affects him personally."
"That affects him personally, but he doesn't care about the LGBTQ+ community," Obergefell said on MSNBC's "The Reid Out."
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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Friday called on President Biden to create abortion clinics on federal land, following the landmark Supreme Court ruling which overturned Roe v. Wade and removed federal abortion protections.
Speaking to a crowd of protestors gathered in New York's Union Square, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez encouraged people to "be relentless to restore and guarantee all of our rights." She detailed her own experience after sexual assault in her 20s, when she was grateful that abortion would have been an option for her if she needed it, and pushed for federal action to preserve access to reproductive healthcare.
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With Friday's Supreme court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade – the landmark case guaranteeing a right to abortion – 13 states with automatic trigger laws enacted total or near-total bans on abortions.
The surge of new abortion bans and clinic closures has highlighted the recent rise in America's maternal mortality rates that are disproportionately affecting women of color and have placed the US first in maternal deaths among all developed nations.
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Hours after the Supreme Court announced it had struck down the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, throngs of pro-choice Americans took to the streets vowing to continue the fight.
In New York's Washington Square Park, a somber and angry crowd began assembling at 5 p.m. ET. They held handwritten signs with words like "Betrayed" or "My corpse has more rights." Some were smeared with red paint.
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The Supreme Court on Friday overturned Roe v. Wade in a 5-4 majority opinion that guts federal abortion rights protections previously upheld by the nearly 50-year-old landmark ruling.
The conservative majority voted to uphold the Mississippi law at the heart of the case which seeks to ban abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, a contradiction to the standard set by Roe, which allowed abortions until about 24 weeks of pregnancy, at which point a fetus could feasibly survive outside the womb.
Six justices ruled in favor of upholding Mississippi's 15-week ban, but it was the majority opinion of five judges that ultimately led to the total overhaul of Roe v. Wade.
Read the full story to find out how each justice voted.
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On Friday, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the near 50-year-old court ruling that legalized abortion across all 50 US states.
Some states have been preparing for years for the possibility that Roe could be overturned.
A handful of states had trigger laws designed to immediately ban abortions within their borders once the decision was reversed. Some "sanctuary states," like New York, put in place legal framework that would protect abortion, even if Roe were overturned. In other areas of the country, it isn't totally clear what happens next — abortion isn't legally protected, but it's also not expressly forbidden.
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The Supreme Court on Friday overturned Roe v. Wade, the nearly 50-year-old landmark ruling that protected abortion rights nationwide.
But recent polling suggests that the vast majority of American voters don't even know who these influential justices are, highlighting an apparent disconnect between the nation's top court and the very people affected by its rulings.
Ahead of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's Senate confirmation earlier this year, C-SPAN and Pierrepont Consulting & Analytics surveyed more than 1,000 likely voters to gauge the public's interest in and awareness of the Supreme Court's work and relevance.
While 84% of voters said the Supreme Court's decisions affect their everyday life, far fewer respondents could provide basic details about the court's history or inner workings.Keep Reading
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In Wisconsin, Planned Parenthood clinics had been scheduling patients through Saturday, June 25, but had stopped scheduling for next week in anticipation of the Supreme Court ruling that would overturn Roe v. Wade, which was leaked in May.
When the news broke Friday morning that the court had rendered its opinion, Tanya Atkinson, president of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, said her clinics had patients waiting to receive services.
"Our team had to go out into the lobby and let those individuals know that they would not be able to access the healthcare that they needed," Atkinson told the local PBS station.
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Some of the biggest names in sports — from tennis to basketball — are speaking out after the Supreme Court ruled to overturn Roe v. Wade on Friday.
The Minnesota Lynx's Natalie Achonwa wrote on Twitter that she's "feeling sick & heartbroken" after hearing about the decision. Tennis legend and feminist icon Billie Jean King said on Twitter that it's a "sad day" in the US.
The WNBA's Seattle Storm tweeted that they are "furious and ready to fight."
Orlando Magic point guard Devin Cannady tweeted that the "country needs to be better," adding in a follow-up note that the ruling is "a POWER grab over WOMEN."
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House Democrats gathered outside the Capitol on Friday to celebrate passing new gun safety legislation, and cheerfully sang "God Bless America."
Across the street, however, protesters swarmed the Supreme Court after the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Camila DeChalus
Hundreds of people gathered outside the Supreme Court on Friday to protest the ruling that overturns Roe v. Wade.
Abortion-rights advocates waived green and black signs and shouted "my body, my choice."
Across from the abortion-rights protesters, a group of abortion opponents wore red shirts with white letters that read: "The pro-life generation votes."
AP Photo/Bruce Schreiner, File
Abortion policy will be on the ballot in at least four states during the upcoming 2022 midterm elections — the highest number of abortion-related ballot measures to appear in a year since 1986.
Kansas and Kentucky will vote on constitutional amendments to establish no right to an abortion, while Montana will vote on a "born-alive" amendment that would extend personhood to infants "born alive" at any stage.
On the other side, voters in Vermont will decide on an amendment that will enshrine the right to an abortion in the state's constitution.
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President Joe Biden said Friday was a "sad day" for the nation after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, and vowed his administration would do everything it can to protect women.
"With this decision, the conservative majority of the Supreme Court shows how extreme it is, how far removed they are from the majority of the country," Biden said during an address to the nation.
He continued: "But this decision must not be the final word," urging Americans to vote.
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Experts told Insider that the cost of getting an abortion is all but guaranteed to rise after the Supreme Court on Friday overturned Roe v. Wade.
Many who live in states where abortion will become mostly, or entirely, illegal will have to face travel costs if they want a procedure in a different state where it is legal.
Wage loss for taking time off to get a procedure is another issue.
"You might be salaried and I might be salaried, and you can take time off," said Anna Rupani, executive director of Fund Texas Choice (FTC), a nonprofit organization that pays for low-income Texans' associated abortion costs. "A lot of our clients are living paycheck to paycheck, they're not in salaried positions… they're experiencing wage loss."
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Former President Donald Trump praised the Supreme Court for overturning Roe v. Wade on Friday.
"This is following the Constitution, and giving rights back when they should have been given long ago," he told Fox News.
Privately, Trump has said that overturning Roe would be "bad for Republicans," according to The New York Times' Maggie Haberman and Michael C. Bender.
Jae C. Hong/Associated Press
Former First Lady Michelle Obama said she is "heartbroken" after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on Friday.
She said before Roe was established, women "risked their lives getting illegal abortions."
"That is what our mothers and grandmothers and great-grandmothers lived through, and now here we are again," Obama wrote in her statement.
"So yes, I am heartbroken — for the teenage girl full of zest and promise, who won't be able to finish school or live the life she wants because her state controls her reproductive decisions," she added.
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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and fellow Democrats are using the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade as a fundraising opportunity ahead of the fall midterms.
"Can you chip in $15 so we can WIN these midterms and finally codify reproductive rights into law?" Pelosi wrote supporters.
"Our ONLY option is to marshal a response so historic — 100,000 gifts before midnight — that we DEFEAT every anti-choice Republican that made this happen, EXPAND our Majorities, and FINALLY codify our reproductive rights into law. So, can I expect to see your name on my "Pro-Choice Champion" list tomorrow morning?"
AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes
Planned Parenthood Action Fund President Alexis McGill Johnson said the Supreme Court gave politicians "permission to control what we do with our bodies" after the Friday decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
"Due to centuries of racism and systemic discrimination, we already know who will feel the consequences of this horrific decision most acutely: Black, Latino and Indigenous communities, people with disabilities, those living in rural areas, young people, immigrants and those having difficulties making ends meet," she said.
"All of our freedoms are on the line," she added.
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The Washington, D.C. Police Department has been fully activated after protests broke out over the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
The Metropolitan Police Department said in an alert that it would "be fully activated to support expected First Amendment demonstrations," and added that "all members should be prepared to work extended tours as necessary" through Tuesday, June 28.
A heavy police presence could be seen outside the Supreme Court Friday morning.
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Hillary Clinton said Friday's Supreme Court ruling is a "step backward" for women's rights.
"Most Americans believe the decision to have a child is one of the most sacred decisions there is, and that such decisions should remain between patients and their doctors," she tweeted after the decision.
She continued: "Today's Supreme Court opinion will live in infamy as a step backward for women's rights and human rights."
(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Friday's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade will have enormous consequences for women's economic progress.
Experts told Insider before the ruling that research points to the fact that abortion legalization has greatly contributed to women's progress in many ways, like reducing rates of teen motherhood and maternal mortality, increasing rates of workforce participation, earnings, and educational attainment.
"This is going to create just a perfect storm of concentrated human misery," said Kimberly Kelly, a sociology professor focused on abortion politics at a Mississippi college, before Friday's decision, adding that overturning Roe means "abortion is going to become a function of class privilege."
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Chief Justice John Roberts said he felt the Supreme Court's five other conservatives went too far in their decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
"The Court's decision to overrule Roe and Casey is a serious jolt to the legal system — regardless of how you view those cases," Roberts wrote in his concurring opinion that was released on Friday along with the majority opinion.
He continued: "A narrower decision rejecting the misguided viability line would be markedly less unsettling, and nothing more is needed to decide this case."
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Justice Clarence Thomas said the Supreme Court should reconsider rulings that protect contraception, same-sex relationships, and same-sex marriage, in a concurring opinion with the ruling to overturn the precedent set in Roe v. Wade.
"For that reason, in future cases, we should reconsider all of this Court's substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell," the conservative justice wrote.
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