Yahoo Finance Michelle Obama, Elizabeth Warren And More React To Devastating Overturning Of Roe V. Wade
The US Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade which has guaranteed constitutional abortion rights for almost 50 years. The watershed decision we all feared would come about following the Court's leak in May, will result in millions of women soon losing their legal right to abortion, handing over the power to determine a woman's right to a termination to each of 50 US states.
On Friday June 24, the Court voted to revoke a woman's right to choose abortion, resulting in one of the most life-changing and controversial rulings by the Court in recent history. Until now, Roe v. Wade has protected the right to an abortion up to the point a foetus can survive outside the womb. The law was established in 1973 after a Texan woman (known by the legal pseudonym ‘Jane Roe’) filed a lawsuit wanting an abortion when it was illegal except when saving the mother's life.
'After today, young women will come of age with fewer rights than their mothers and grandmothers had,' Associate Justice Stephen Breyer wrote in a dissent joined by the Court's two other liberal justices. 'The majority accomplishes that result without so much as considering how women have relied on the right to choose or what it means to take that right away.'
Messages of outcry and shock have reverberated across social media since the news was announced.
Here is a round up of the most compelling and powerful posts that have been shared so far today:
My statement on the Supreme Court overturning #RoeVWade: pic.twitter.com/a3iEBTuctv
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) June 24, 2022
My thoughts on the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. pic.twitter.com/9ALSbapHDY
— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) June 24, 2022
People will still get abortions.
These procedures won't stop just because Roe v. Wade is overturned.
This will only prevent safe, legal abortions from taking place.— Padma Lakshmi (@PadmaLakshmi) June 24, 2022
They did it. THEY DID IT TO US! #SCOTUS has overturned #RoevWade, enshrined in the Constitution as settled law for over 50 years. How dare they? This #SCOTUS is absolutely tone-deaf to the will and even the actual needs of the American people. #WakeUpAmerica
— bettemidler (@BetteMidler) June 24, 2022
Here’s my statement with Michelle on the draft Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. pic.twitter.com/xBJJkLYGlQ
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) May 3, 2022
Make no mistake. Women will die because of this ruling, and tens of thousands more will be criminalised or forced to continue with pregnancies they did not choose. It is barbaric, inhumane and utterly heartbreaking. Solidarity with our sisters.https://t.co/2PlKFOM548
— Women's Equality Party (@WEP_UK) June 24, 2022
Banning abortion never actually bans abortions. It just bans safe abortions. And everybody knows it.
— Hadley Freeman (@HadleyFreeman) June 24, 2022
BREAKING: The Supreme Court just overturned Roe v. Wade, ending our constitutional right to abortion. We know you may be feeling a lot of things right now — hurt, anger, confusion. Whatever you feel is OK. We’re here with you — and we’ll never stop fighting for you.
— Planned Parenthood (@PPFA) June 24, 2022
Black women-led abortion rights organizations are denouncing the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade with one group calling it a "devastating blow against women’s civil and human rights."
— Nicquel Terry Ellis (@NTerryEllis) June 24, 2022
The Supreme Court has now officially given politicians permission to control what we do with our bodies, deciding that we can no longer be trusted to determine the course for our own lives. But make no mistake—we are a movement that will demand we are treated like equal citizens.
— Alexis McGill Johnson (@alexismcgill) June 24, 2022
Absolutely gutted for my sisters in the states. Abortion bans are an attack on all women, but that disproportionately impact women who are poor, women of colour, and women trapped in abusive relationships.
Abortion bans are barbarism.— Ash Sarkar (@AyoCaesar) June 24, 2022
What ends today in more than 20 states is LEGAL abortion, women's and people with uteri's rights to bodily autonomy, and the fragile notion that everyone is free. Clearly, few of us are. I do not know where we go from here but this is not the end of a fight. It's the beginning.
— roxane gay (@rgay) June 24, 2022
We saw this coming, and yet it still hurts so deeply. Reminder that this will not stop abortions. It just stops safe access to them. And rich people will continue to get them without consequence. https://t.co/EeqDrAHW4x
— Perez Hilton (@PerezHilton) June 24, 2022
Abortion care IS health care. It was so before this. And it will remain so after this.
We don’t care what a far-right extremist Supreme Court that is in a crisis of legitimacy says. Your racist, sexist, classist ruling won’t stop us from accessing the care we need.— Cori Bush (@CoriBush) June 24, 2022
One of the darkest days for women’s rights in my lifetime. Obviously the immediate consequences will be suffered by women in the US - but this will embolden anti-abortion & anti-women forces in other countries too. Solidarity doesn’t feel enough right now - but it is necessary. https://t.co/T1656BPQuL
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) June 24, 2022
The Court voted 6-3 in favour of overturning Roe v. Wade.
Anti-abortion and pro-abortion groups were seen gathering outside the Court in Washington DC ahead of the ruling, resulting in celebratory scenes among Republicans and religious conservatives who wanted to ban terminations, as well as frustration and tears from the latter.
Sky News reports that at least 25 states are preparing to introduce new laws, or reinstate dormant laws, which make it illegal to access abortion in many cases, even including, in some cases, when pregnancies have resulted from rape or incest.
Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi are three of 13 states which have 'trigger bans' in place, which mean terminations will be banned as of today or in the coming days.
BPAS is the UK's leading provider of NHS-funded abortion care. Call 03457 30 40 30 to find out more information or book an appointment.
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