The U.S. Supreme Court has overturned Roe v Wade.
On a vote of 6-3, the nation's highest court Friday overturned Roe v. Wade, effectively ending recognition of a constitutional right to abortion and giving individual states the power to allow, limit, or ban the practice altogether.
The ruling came in the court's opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which centered on a Mississippi law that banned abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The Republican-led state of Mississippi asked the Supreme Court to strike down a lower court ruling that stopped the 15-week abortion ban from taking place.
"We end this opinion where we began. Abortion presents a profound moral question. The Constitution does not prohibit the citizens of each State from regulating or prohibiting abortion. Roe and Casey arrogated that authority. We now overrule those decisions and return that authority to the people and their elected representatives," Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the court's opinion.
Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the court’s three liberal-leaning justices, unable to sway even one member of the solid conservative majority.
Friday's decision comes nearly 50 years after the Roe v Wade ruling in January of 1973 that legalized abortion in the U.S.