The decision on Friday by the Supreme Court to end constitutional protections for abortion that have stood in America for nearly half a century is expected to lead to abortion bans in roughly half the states. Video / AP
Millions of women in the US will lose the legal right to have an abortion after the Supreme Court overturned a landmark ruling which for nearly half a century had permitted terminations during the first two trimesters of pregnancy.
Roe v Wade, which in 1973 provided the constitutional right to abortions up until foetal viability, was overturned on Friday (Saturday NZT), in a decision that promises to further drive political divisions across America.
Reactions poured in from across the US and around the world; abortion-rights activists decried the end to 50 years of reproductive rights, while anti-abortion groups praised the landmark ruling.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the decision was "incredibly upsetting".
"People are absolutely entitled to have deeply held convictions on this issue. But those personal beliefs should never rob another from making their own decisions," Ardern said in a statement.
"To see that principle now lost in the United States feels like a loss for women everywhere. When there are so many issues to tackle, so many challenges that face women and girls, we need progress, not to fight the same fights and move backwards."
Protesters gather outside the US Supreme Court. Photo / AP
US President Joe Biden said the decision marked "a sad day for the court and the country", saying "the court has done what it's never done before — expressly taking away a constitutional right that is so fundamental to so many Americans".
Although Biden has previously expressed conflicted feelings about abortion, he delivered a forceful defence in an address from the White House. Noting that Republican-controlled states now had a clear path to ban abortion even in cases of incest or rape, he said "it just stuns me".
Today is a very solemn moment for the United States.
The Supreme Court expressly took away a Constitutional right from the American people that it had already recognized. They simply took it away. That's never been done to a right that is so important to so many Americans.
Former US President Barack Obama said the decision was an attak on essential freedoms of millions of Americans and left them prey to the whims of "politicians and idealogues.
Today, the Supreme Court not only reversed nearly 50 years of precedent, it relegated the most intensely personal decision someone can make to the whims of politicians and ideologues—attacking the essential freedoms of millions of Americans.
US Senator Elizabeth Warren said the Supreme Court was no longer impartial and was forcing a religious agenda on all Americans.
The very idea that six extremists on the Supreme Court think they can force their personal and religious views on the rest of America by rolling back abortion rights makes me downright furious—and determined to keep fighting back.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French President Emmanual Macron called abortion a fundamental right for all women that must be protected.
The news coming out of the United States is horrific. My heart goes out to the millions of American women who are now set to lose their legal right to an abortion. I can’t imagine the fear and anger you are feeling right now.
Abortion is a fundamental right for all women. It must be protected. I wish to express my solidarity with the women whose liberties are being undermined by the Supreme Court of the United States.
New Zealand Green MP Chlöe Swarbrick said she stood with Americans fighting for their rights to healthcare.
Prohibiting abortions doesn’t stop abortions. It prevents safe, regulated abortions. It prevents access for those without the resources to travel to areas where abortion is legal.
Solidarity with Americans fighting for restoration of their rights to healthcare.
The US Supreme Court ruling was made possible by former Republican President Donald Trump's nomination of three conservative justices: Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Coney Barrett.
"God made the decision," Trump said in praising the outcome. "This brings everything back to the states where it has always belonged."
Republicans and conservative leaders celebrated the culmination of a decades-long campaign to overturn the 1973 law.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham argued the right to abortion should be decided by politicians rather than judges.
Roe was Constitutionally unsound from its inception as the flawed legal theory behind the decision gives unlimited power to five unelected Supreme Court justices.
I believe it was one of the largest power grabs in the history of the Supreme Court.
After the ruling, protesters converged on the Supreme Court, where a crowd of abortion-rights supporters quickly swelled to the hundreds. One chanted into a bullhorn, "legal abortion on demand" and "this decision must not stand". Some shouted "the Supreme Court is illegitimate".
"It's a painful day for those of us who support women's rights," said Laura Free, an Ithaca, New York, resident and women's rights historian who came to Washington to do research. When she learned of the decision, she said, "I had to come here."
A competing faction demonstrated in favour of the ruling, holding signs saying "the future is anti-abortion″ and "dismember Roe".
As of now, these 30 companies have come forward in covering travel expenses for employee abortions.
Biden and other Democrats hope to use outrage over the court decision to rally voters in November's midterm elections. Although nationwide legislation ensuring access to abortion appears out of reach, more Democratic victories at the state level could limit Republican efforts to ban the practice.
"Congress must act, and with your vote, you can act," Biden said. "You can have the final word."
