Supreme Court abortion ruling updates: Americans can get abortions in Canada: Trudeau

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.

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.


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Protesters gather nationwide

People in support of abortion rights gathered Friday after the Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, which guaranteed a constitutional right for an abortion.

Protests occurred Friday at Federal Plaza in Chicago, Philadelphia's City Hall, Washington Square Park in New York and downtown Boston. More rallies were being planned for Saturday in response to the ruling.

About two dozen protesters also gathered outside the private community residence where Justice Clarence Thomas lives in Fairfax, Virginia, with some carrying signs that read "you will never control my body."


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


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."

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."


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."