The U.S. Supreme Court on June 24 upheld a Mississippi law banning abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, eliminating the constitutional right to abortion. This ruling comes 49 years after Roe v. Wade, the landmark case that struck down a Texas law banning all abortions except those necessary to save the mother’s life.

The Court had ruled in 1973 that criminal statutes that outlaw abortions at all stages of pregnancy violate the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, which prohibits states from “depriv[ing] any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”

The justices held that the Due Process Clause protects the right to privacy, which includes the right to end a pregnancy. As a result, states were not allowed to freely regulate or prohibit abortions until the threshold of fetal viability, defined as the third trimester of pregnancy.

Two years after the Roe decision, a 1975 Gallup poll found that 21 percent of voters believed that abortion should be legal under all circumstances, while 22 percent believed that it should be illegal in any circumstance. 54 percent gave a more ambiguous answer: that it should be legal in some circumstances.

Although the issue has remained contentious ever since, recent polls indicate that the balance, in popular opinion, has tilted in favor of abortion rights. Posing the same question to voters in 2022, Gallup found that 35 percent believed abortion should be legal in all instances, whereas 13 percent believed it should be illegal in all instances; 50 percent, once again the largest proportion, believed that it should be legal under some circumstances.

When voters are asked specifically about Roe, fewer people took the middle ground. In May, 35 percent said that Roe should be overturned, and 58 percent said it should be upheld.

However, the Court is not obligated to consider popular will. By a 6-3 vote, the justices voted to overturn Roe. Justice Samuel Alito, joined by Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett, wrote the majority opinion. Justice John Roberts concurred in judgment but did not join the majority in the opinion. Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan dissent.

The majority opinion held that the Constitution does not guarantee a right to abortion because it is “not deeply rooted in the Nation’s history and tradition.” It differentiates abortion rights from similar rights by highlighting the question of “potential life,” which the precedent for Roe does not implicate. Despite the Court’s practice of deferring to precedent, the justices deemed Roe “egregiously wrong” and “on a collision course with the Constitution.” In making abortion a constitutional right, Roe “short-circuited the democratic process,” as many Americans disagreed with the decision at the time.

On the other hand, the dissenting justices emphasized the “liberty and equality of women,” who, under Roe, were guaranteed the right to choose whether to bear a child. They also drew attention to the relationship between Roe and other rights established by similar precedent, such as the rights to use of contraceptives and to same-sex marriage. Roe balanced the state’s legitimate interest in protecting fetal life with women’s right to choose by allowing regulations of abortions after the threshold of viability. The dissent claimed that there have been no recent changes that justify overturning precedent.

Pro-choice advocates are disappointed but not surprised, as a draft of the opinion had been leaked in May. Taylor St. Germain, the communications director of Reproductive Equity Now, told the Sampan, “This was an unconscionable ruling by the Supreme Court … the Court gave the green light to anti-abortion state legislatures across the country to strip people of their bodily autonomy.”

On the other hand, pro-life advocates are celebrating. Erin Hawley, senior counsel to Alliance Defending Freedom, said, “The Supreme Court has corrected a historically bad mistake in its precedent. Today’s decision is a win for life and for the Constitution. There is not, and has never been, a constitutional right to take the life of an innocent, unborn child.”

Both sides, however, acknowledge that the struggle is far from over. Pro-life groups like the National Right to Life Committee propose to prohibit the prescription and distribution of abortion pills, whereas pro-choice groups like Massachusetts Beyond Roe recommend mandating insurance coverage for abortion and comprehensive sexual health education.

St. Germain, however, contended: “This is not the end for the anti-abortion movement. They do not want to ban abortion in 26 states. They want to ban abortion in all 50 states … We cannot let up this fight. We need everyone off the sidelines.”