Supreme Court abortion ruling updates: WH warns of ‘nightmare scenarios’

The Supreme Court voted to overrule the decisions of Roe and Casey.

The U.S. Supreme Court has overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade decision in a much-anticipated ruling Friday in one of its biggest decisions this term.

The court voted 5-4, largely along party lines, to overturn Roe and 6-3, in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which involved Mississippi's ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

Abortion rights supporters react to the overturning of Roe v Wade outside the United States Supreme Court in Washington, June 24, 2022.
Mary F. Calvert/Reuters

It appeared that the panel's conservative majority of justices was ready to overturn nearly 50 years of established abortion rights after last month's leaked draft decision indicated as much.

Jun 24, 2022, 7:07 PM EDT

Planned Parenthood doctor describes moments after ruling

Dr. Colleen McNicholas, the chief medical officer for Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis region, oversees a clinic in Missouri, which has been immediately shut down by a trigger law, and a clinic in Illinois, which will stay open for the foreseeable future.

Already, she has seen the impacts of a clinic that gets shut down -- and the massive demand for one that's still open.

"Within minutes of the decision, our attorney general invoked that trigger ban, and we had to stop providing abortion care," she said of the Missouri clinic.

And in Illinois, she said, "Within minutes, again, we were receiving calls from clinics and other trigger-banned states to say, 'I have patients on the schedule tomorrow. How many can you accommodate in the coming days?'"

- ABC News' Cheyenne Haslett and Rachel Scott

Jun 24, 2022, 7:11 PM EDT

Sports figures speak out against ruling

Soccer star Megan Rapinoe took several minutes during a media appearance ahead of Saturday's match between the U.S. and Colombia to talk about the Supreme Court ruling on Friday.

"Obviously you can understand from an individual perspective how difficult it is to live in a country where you have a constant, unrelenting, violent tide against you and onslaught as a woman," she said. "And it would be as a gay person and as a non-binary person, as a trans person -- whoever this is going to affect, because it affects a lot more than just women or cis-women. It really does affect us all."

She went on to say the ruling will "disproportionately affect poor women, Black women, brown women, immigrants, women in abusive relationships, women who have been raped, women and girls who have been raped by family members," as well as those who "maybe just didn't make the best choice."

PHOTO: People gather at Union Square to protest against the the Supreme Court's decision in the Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health case, June 24, 2022, in New York.
People gather at Union Square to protest against the the Supreme Court's decision in the Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health case, June 24, 2022, in New York. The Court's decision in the Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health case overturns the landmark 50-year-old Roe v Wade case, removing a federal right to an abortion.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Rapinoe additionally called on men to speak up about the ruling, saying that is "what, frankly, doing the right thing looks like."

Meanwhile, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert spoke out in support of abortion rights.

"The NBA and WNBA believe that women should be able to make their own decisions concerning their health and future, and we believe that freedom should be protected," they said in a joint statement. "We will continue to advocate for gender and health equity, including ensuring our employees have access to reproductive health care, regardless of their location."

Jun 24, 2022, 6:03 PM EDT

US surgeon general says 'health of women and pregnant people is put at risk'

"Today's decision is a major step backward for public health," U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy said in a statement Friday. "Reproductive health decisions – like all health decisions – should be made by patients and their health care providers."

Murthy said that with restricted access to reproductive health care, there will be more unplanned pregnancies and unsafe abortions.

"Ultimately, the health of women and pregnant people is put at risk – an effect that will be felt disproportionately in historically marginalized populations, including communities of color, low-income Americans, and rural residents," he continued.

Murthy said health care providers will be further strained in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and "forced into an impossible choice between doing what's right for their patients and complying with laws that are at odds with their patient's health interests."

The surgeon general said he will continue to support "women’s right to make their own decisions about their health."

Jun 24, 2022, 5:04 PM EDT

House Democrats look for abortion ruling to galvanize support in midterms

Following Friday's Supreme Court decision, Democratic lawmakers have their eyes set on November, hoping the issue of abortion will galvanize widespread support.

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Sean Patrick Maloney, D-N.Y., said reproductive rights will be on the ballot in November, but also acknowledged Democrats are going to have to focus on issues like the economy to win support.

“It's not an either-or. We should be talking about the economy. We should be talking about our plan to lower costs for families," Maloney said. "We have a plan, but [Republican] priority is going to be to ban abortion in all 50 states and and that's the choice voters going to get to make.”

Maloney also said Republicans are fixated on banning abortion nationwide, and come election season, they will have to answer to voters.

"Every Republican should answer whether they will criminalize abortion in all 50 states because the Supreme Court said the Constitution doesn't stand in their way. And we know that that is their priority. And those are the wrong priorities,” he added.

This photo from Thursday Nov. 21, 2019, shows Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-N.Y., during a meeting of the House Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington.
Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP, FILE

Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, who is currently in a hotly contested Senate battle against JD Vance, said he didn’t know if abortion would be a top issue for voters but said the Supreme Court decision could galvanize a movement.

“Largest governmental overreach in the history of our lifetime right here," Ryan said. "And I think Americans are gonna wholly reject that. And while it may not be the top issue, it will be for a lot. And I think it will be a secondary issue for a lot of other people.”

-ABC News' Lalee Ibssa, Allie Pecorin and Gabe Ferris