What happens next? The end of constitutional abortion rights in the context of the Fourteenth Amendment

On 24 June 2022, the US Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling in the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization revoked the constitutional right to an abortion in the United States guaranteed nearly 50 years ago in the infamous Roe v. Wadedecision of 1973.

The majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito held that abortion is not a federally protected right under the US Constitution, and, therefore, individual US states can ban or restrict abortion access without violating the Constitution.

“We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled. The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision, including the one on which the defenders of Roe and Casey now chiefly rely – the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.”

The ruling may have wide-ranging repercussions for several Supreme Court decisions which used Roe v. Wade and its application of the Due Process Clause as legal precedent.

For the full experience, read on the United States Studies Centre website (linked).