Americans reacted on Friday to the Supreme Court’s decision’s to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that established a constitutional right to abortion access.
In the court’s ruling Friday, telegraphed in a rare court leak, Republican-appointed judges voted 5-4 to overturn Roe v. Wade. They ruled 6-3 in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that a 2018 state law in Mississippi banning most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy was permissible. Chief Justice John Roberts did not back using the latter decision to overturn Roe.
Politicians from both sides of the aisle swiftly reacted to the news Friday. One Democrat claimed that “people will die” because of this ruling, while a Republican applauded the “courageous and correct” decision from the court.
Several senators who voted to confirm Supreme Court justices who joined Friday’s majorities, including several considered swing votes in recent confirmation processes, expressed their disappointment in one or more of the three justices confirmed during the single-term Trump presidency.
One of those senators, the conservative West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin, who voted to confirm Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, lamented having trusted the to “when they testified under oath that they also believed Roe v. Wade was settled legal precedent.”
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Republican Susan Collins of Maine, who also voted to confirm Gorsuch and Kavanaugh, expressed similar disappointment.
President Joe Biden denounced the decision by the court on Friday. “Today, the Supreme Court of the United States expressly took away a constitutional right from the American people,” he said, speaking from the White House several hours after the decision.
“It’s a sad day for the court, and for the country,” Biden said.
According to an analysis by the Guttmacher Institute, which supports abortion access, 26 U.S. states are “certain or likely” to ban abortion now that Roe v. Wade has been overturned. Some states’ “trigger laws” to immediately ban abortion have already gone into effect.
Companies including Amazon AMZN, +2.60%, Google GOOG, +4.39% GOOGL, +4.23%, Levi Strauss LEVI, +3.23%, Mastercard MA, +3.53%, Tesla TSLA, +3.94% and Yelp YELP, +4.85% said they will help cover abortion travel costs for employees in states with abortion restrictions who seek care elsewhere.
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Prior to the ruling, polling showed a majority of Americans thought that Roe v. Wade should not be overturned. According to a January poll from CNN, 69% of Americans wanted to keep Roe intact, while 30% wanted the ruling completely overturned.
Polling on the abortion has remained fairly consistent for more than 20 years. Since 1989, between 52% and 66% of U.S. adults have said they want Roe v. Wade to remain in place, according to polling conducted and compiled by Gallup.