Philly Leader

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life American, praised the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, which governed abortion law for nearly 50 years.

“Today the Supreme Court, in line with modern science and overwhelming public consensus, recognized the truth in every mother’s heart and that pro-life advocates have argued all along: Unborn children are human beings deserving of protection," Dannenfelser said in a press release. "Every legislature in the land, in every single state and Congress, is now free to allow the will of the people to make its way into the law through our elected representatives."

On Friday, the Supreme Court issued a ruling in the case known as Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. The case was examining the constitutionality of a Mississippi law which banned most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The Court upheld the law by a 6-3 vote. In a narrow 5-4 vote, the Court also overturned Roe v. Wade in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, ruling that the Constitution did not protect access to abortion.

Justice Samuel Alito wrote the court's opinion. Chief Justice John Roberts was the concurring vote who voted to uphold the Mississippi law without overruling Roe. Justices Stephen Breyer, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor wrote a joint dissent. According to SCOTUSblog, Alito's opinion found that Roe had been "egregiously wrong and deeply damaging." He noted that the Constitution never mentioned abortion and examined nearly 200 years of American law showing that states had been seriously restricting abortion for decades well before Roe v. Wade in 1973.

The National Right to Life Committee tweeted its support for the decision, calling it a correction of "the most egregious and deadly Judicial ruling," meaning Roe v. Wade.

According to a report by CNET, Pennsylvania permits abortions up to 24 weeks. The law is currently unchanged after the Dobbs ruling.