US Supreme Court terminates constitutional right to abortion

The court overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling on Thursday, which recognised a woman's constitutional right to an abortion.

JOHANNESBURG - Women in the US will no longer be able terminate unwanted pregnancies at four months after the US Supreme Court revoked their right to abort.

The court overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling on Friday, which recognised a woman's constitutional right to an abortion.

This has handed a huge victory to Republicans and religious conservatives who wanted to limit or ban the procedure.

The US Supreme Court, through its conservative majority, upheld a republican-backed Mississippi law that bans abortion after 15 weeks.

The vote was 5-4 to overturn the ruling, with Chief Justice John Roberts writing separately to say he would have upheld the Mississippi law, but not taken the additional step of erasing the precedent altogether.

But the justices held that the Roe v. Wade decision that allowed abortions performed before a foetus would be viable outside the womb, between 24 and 28 weeks of pregnancy had been wrongly decided.

This was because the US Constitution makes no specific mention of abortion rights.

A draft version of the ruling written by conservative justice Samuel Alito indicating the court was likely to overturn Roe v. Wade was leaked in May, igniting a political firestorm.

Friday's ruling by Alito largely tracks that leaked draft.

This article first appeared on 702 : US Supreme Court terminates constitutional right to abortion

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