Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization

Summary

The Supreme Court held that the Constitution does not confer a right to obtain an abortion, overruled Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, and returned the authority to regulate or prohibit abortion to the people and their elected representatives. Applying the Glucksberg framework, the Court concluded the abortion right is not deeply rooted in the Nation's history and tradition—abortion having been criminal at common law at least after quickening and proscribed by three-quarters of the States at all stages by 1868—and is critically different from other liberty rights because it destroys what Roe called 'potential life.' Stare decisis did not counsel retention because Roe was egregiously wrong, exceptionally weakly reasoned, and unworkable, and no concrete reliance interests support it; state abortion regulation therefore receives rational-basis review, under which Mississippi's Gestational Age Act, barring most abortions after 15 weeks, is sustained as rationally related to legitimate interests including protecting the unborn. Justice Alito delivered the opinion of the Court, joined by Justices Thomas, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett; Justice Thomas and Justice Kavanaugh each filed a concurrence, the Chief Justice filed an opinion concurring in the judgment, and Justices Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan dissented.