The Supreme Court has struck down Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 precedent that protected abortion rights at the federal level, in a Friday decision to uphold a Mississippi law banning abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
Videos shared by Twitter user Virginia Allen show a significant police presence outside the Supreme Court as protesters and counter-protesters gathered ahead of the decision.
Abortion-rights activists with the group Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights can be seen carrying a green banner and chanting, as anti-abortion activists carry signs and chant their own slogans.
It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives, Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the opinion for the 63 conservative majority.
The ruling leaves the legality of abortion up to states. More than 20 states have abortion restrictions in place that may now go into effect.
Previously, Roe v. Wade required states permit abortion until fetal viability, at around 24 weeks of pregnancy, and that requirement was reaffirmed in the 1992 decision in Planned Parenthood v. Casey.
Knowing this moment would come does not make it any less devastating, Planned Parenthood Action Fund President Alexis McGill Johnson said in a statement. Make no mistake if they can take away the right to abortion, a right we’ve held for nearly 50 years, they won’t stop here: All of our freedoms are on the line.
