In a landmark decision on June 24, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to overturn Roe v. Wade, eliminating the federal protection of a patient’s right to decide to terminate a pregnancy.
In the decision on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, Justice Samuel Alito follows the same language and logic he’d written in the leaked draft opinion that Politico published on May 2. In the current decision, Alito — part of a majority conservative court — writes that the U.S. Constitution does not explicitly spell out the right to an abortion, an unenumerated right. The decision in Dobbs reverses a nearly 50-year-old right granted by Roe v. Wade.
Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Stephen Breyer don’t mince words in their jointly written dissent.
“Whatever the exact scope of the coming laws, one result of today’s decision is certain: the curtailment of women’s rights, and of their status as free and equal citizens,” the three justices write.
The decision has opened up the floodgates for restrictive state bills across the country — including in Ohio, which that night enacted a ban on abortions after six weeks of gestation. These decisions also could open the door for reversing other rights, including further bodily autonomy, being able to marry someone of a different race or the same sex, or having consensual sexual activity or accessing birth control.
“No one should be confident that this majority is done with its work. The right Roe and Casey recognized does not stand alone. To the contrary, the Court has linked it for decades to other settled freedoms involving bodily integrity, familial relationships, and procreation,” Sotomayor, Kagan and Breyer warn in their dissent.
With Roe now reversed, CityBeat is exploring what comes next for Ohioans seeking abortion resources and reproductive care. Click below to read our in-depth stories about each topic.
- Part 1: Here's Where Abortion Currently Stands in Ohio
- Part 2: More Legal Rights in Ohio and Beyond Are on the Chopping Block with the Fall of Roe v. Wade
- Part 3: Ohio's District Maps and Ballot Seats Continue to Shape Abortion Laws Within the State
- Part 4: Statewide Abortion Bans Will Lead to Bleeding, Infection, Even Death in Ohio, Experts Say
- Part 5: Already-Disadvantaged Ohioans Are Poised to Disproportionately Suffer from an Abortion Ban
- Part 6: With an Abortion Ban in Place, Ohio's Attempts to Court Large Companies May Stall
This feature is a collaborative effort by reporters and editors at CityBeat in Cincinnati and Cleveland Scene in Cleveland, including Sam Allard, Allison Babka, Madeline Fening, Vince Grzegorek, Gennifer Harding-Gosnell, Maggy McDonel, Ashley Moor and Maija Zummo.
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