Case

Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States generally protects a pregnant woman’s liberty to choose to have an abortion. Jan. 22, 1973

Ruling

 The U.S. Supreme Court officially reversed Roe v. Wade on Friday, June 25, 2022 declaring that the constitutional right to abortion, upheld for 49 years, no longer exists.

Writing for the court majority, Justice Samuel Alito said that the 1973 Roe ruling and repeated subsequent high court decisions reaffirming Roe “must be overruled” because they were “egregiously wrong,” the arguments “exceptionally weak” and so “damaging” that they amounted to “an abuse of judicial authority.”

The decision, most of which was leaked in early May, means that abortion rights will be rolled back in nearly half of the states immediately, with more restrictions likely to follow. For all practical purposes, abortion will not be available in large swaths of the country. 

Impact

The court’s controversial, but expected ruling gives individual states the power to set their own abortion laws without concern of running afoul of Roe, which for nearly half a century had permitted abortions during the first two trimesters of pregnancy.

Several U.S. states immediately banned abortion, including  Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma and South Dakota. Almost half the states are expected to quickly outlaw or severely restrict abortion as a result of the decision.

Conversation

Ten/Ten, Lano the Sage and Africa Allah host a spirited conversation about how this ruling will impact society and the quality of life for women. Additionally, they briefly address the second ruling relating to gun laws.

Gun Laws

The Supreme Court ruled Thursday, June 24, 2022 that the Constitution provides a right to carry a gun outside the home, issuing a major decision on the meaning of the Second Amendment.

The 6-3 ruling was the court’s second important decision on the right to “keep and bear arms.” In a landmark 2008 decision, the court had said for the first time that the amendment safeguards a person’s right to possess firearms, although the decision was limited to keeping guns at home for self-defense.