US Supreme Court overturns Roe v Wade
The US Supreme Court has overturned a 1973 ruling that established a constitutional right to abortion.
In a long-awaited judgment, the court said that the US constitution did not confer a right to abortion, and overruled the Roe v Wade ruling, describing it as 鈥渆gregiously wrong鈥.
鈥淭he authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives,鈥 .
The 6-3 ruling, which upheld a Mississippi law that bans abortions after 15 weeks, could open the way for other states to ban or limit rights to abortion in the wake of the ruling.
鈥楴o implicit right鈥
The court said that the US constitution made no reference to a right to abortion, and that the 1973 ruling had decided that an implicit right sprang from various amendments 鈥 including a right to privacy.
The Supreme Court stated that the right to obtain an abortion 鈥渃annot be justified鈥 as a component of a broader entrenched right, supported by other precedents.
鈥淯ntil the latter part of the 20th century, there was no support in American law for a constitutional right to obtain an abortion,鈥 it said.
鈥淭his consensus endured until the day Roe was decided,鈥 it added.