The Supreme Court has reached a decision to overturn Roe v Wade, eliminating constitutional rights to abortion. Friday’s 5-4 vote to overturn Roe strikes down 50-years of abortion protections and for the first time in the nation’s history, reversed a constitutional right.
Justice Samuel Alito who wrote the court majority said the 1973 Roe ruling and subsequent high court reaffirming decisions “must be overruled”. According to Alito, Roe was “egregiously wrong” and the arguments presented in its favor were “exceptionally weak”. This resulted in what he called “an abuse of judicial authority”.
Aliton was joined in the majority by Justice Clarence Thomas and the three Trump appointed Justices - Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.
Dissenting were Justices Stephen Breyer, appointed by President Clinton, and Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, appointed by President Obama. They wrote "With sorrow — for this Court, but more, for the many millions of American women who have today lost a fundamental constitutional protection — we dissent,".
Members of congress voiced their concerns about these three Trump appointed justices possibly misleading them in both their confirmation hearings and in private meetings with each of them. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi voiced this concern in a press conference Friday morning.
“How about those justices coming before the senators and saying they respected the president of the court. That they respected the right of privacy in the United States. Did you hear that? We’re they not telling the truth then?”
With this decision, 13 states are expected to have their abortion restriction trigger laws go into effect, which will result in near-total bans. Each state will have different expectations.
In New Mexico, while abortions have no explicit protections, it is likely to remain a legal practice. In a statement released Friday morning, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham said this moment has been one long dreaded, and the nation will be worse for it.
But she also said she will continue to fight for the right to a safe, legal abortion in New Mexico and will stand as a brick wall against those who seek to punish women and their doctors just because they seek the care they need and deserve.