Supreme Court Overturns Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey: "The Constitution does not confer a right to abortion"

6/24/2022 — In a 6-3 decision, the United States Supreme Court overturned the landmark rulings of Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the precedents of which established and protected a Constitutional right to an abortion since 1973 and 1992, respectively.

The vote was called during the Court’s review of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which was initially filed in response to Mississippi’s Gestational Age Act in the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.  

“The Constitution does not confer a right to abortion; Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey are overruled; the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives,” Justice Alito wrote in the majority opinion. Justices Thomas, Roberts, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett concurred in the judgment.

Justices Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan strongly opposed. They referenced the Casey decision to uphold Roe, which argued that overruling Roe had no justification other than a change in the Court’s membership and its “doctrinal disposition.”

They felt the Dobbs decision could not claim any other justification, and thus the reversal of law severely betrayed the Court’s principles. In their minority opinion, 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.” 

Read the Full Opinion of the Court Document