US Supreme Court , Overturns 'Roe v.
Wade'.
The six to three ruling ends the constitutional right to abortion in the U.S. The three liberal members of the Court dissented.
The ruling means individual states will now decide whether to legalize abortion.
The Constitution does not confer a right to abortion; 'Roe' and 'Casey' are overruled, Majority Opinion, via 'The New York Times'.
... and the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives, Majority Opinion, via 'The New York Times'.
In justifying the decision, the majority opinion evokes 'Plessy v.
Ferguson,' which upheld racial segregation.
Like the infamous decision in 'Plessy v.
Ferguson' 'Roe' was also egregiously wrong and on a collision course with the Constitution from the day it was decided, Majority Opinion, via 'The New York Times'.
The Court short-circuited the democratic process by closing it to the large number of Americans who disagreed with 'Roe.', Majority Opinion, via 'The New York Times'.
The dissent opinion of Justices Breyer, Sotomayor and Kagan strikes back.
[With 'Roe'] the Court struck a balance, as it often does when values and goals compete, Dissent Opinion, via 'The New York Times'.
Today, the Court discards that balance.
It says from the very moment of fertilization, a woman has no rights to speak of, Dissent Opinion, via 'The New York Times'.
Throughout our history, the sphere of protected liberty has expanded, bringing in individuals formerly excluded, Dissent Opinion, via 'The New York Times'.
In that way, the constitutional values of liberty and equality go hand in hand; they do not inhabit the hermetically sealed containers the majority portrays, Dissent Opinion, via 'The New York Times'.
The Court [of the 'Roe' decision] understood, as the majority today does not, that the men who ratified the Fourteenth Amendment and wrote the state laws of the time did not view women as full and equal citizens, Dissent Opinion, via 'The New York Times'
