Washington responds to Supreme Court striking down Roe

Elected officials in Washington, D.C., responded swiftly to news from the Supreme Court striking down the right to an abortion, officially overturning Roe after a draft of the opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson was leaked. 

In a 5-4 decision to strike down Roe and a 6-3 decision to uphold a Mississippi restricting abortions after 15 weeks, the court held that the Constitution "does not confer a right to abortion," and "the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives." In other words, the legality of abortions will be determined state-by-state. Thirteen states already have so-called "trigger laws" on the books, meaning abortion will swiftly be outlawed in most cases with Roe overturned.

In a sign of the polarization of this issue, Democrats immediately slammed the decision, saying the ruling negates basic women's rights and will disproportionately affect poor women who will have a harder time accessing out-of-state abortions. Most Republicans and conservatives celebrated the decision as a win for the unborn.