Missouri becomes first state to ban abortion following the SCOTUS decision to overturn Roe v. Wade
- Missouri became the first state to ban abortion after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
- The 5-4 ruling to overturn the nearly 50-year-old landmark ruling gutted abortion rights nationwide.
Missouri became the first state to make abortion illegal after the Supreme Court overturned the landmark decision of Roe v. Wade on Friday.
The 5-4 decision that gutted the nearly 50-year-old ruling that legalized abortion nationwide was delivered by Justice Samuel Alito, joined by his conservative colleagues, Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. The decision sparked outcry across the US from abortion-rights advocates and Democratic lawmakers in the wake of the controversial ruling, which was leaked last month.
Justice Alito, who authored the opinion of the court, said "the States may regulate abortion" now.
Missouri was one of 13 US states that set up "trigger bans" designed to immediately ban abortions within the state once Roe v. Wade was overturned. State Gov. Mike Parson signed legislation Friday morning enacting the ban on abortions in the state following the SCOTUS ruling.
"Missouri has become the first state in the nation to effectively end abortions," Parson wrote in an announcement on Twitter. "In response to today's SCOTUS ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, I have signed a proclamation activating the "Right to Life of the Unborn Child Act," ending elective abortions in the State."
He added: "Today, our efforts have produced what generations of Missourians have worked and prayed for: Today, we have won our fight to protect innocent life."
US Rep. Cori Bush, a Democrat representing Missouri's first congressional district who championed protecting abortion rights, had a tearful reaction to the SCOTUS ruling while speaking at a roundtable discussion in Missouri's last remaining abortion clinic on Friday.
"Oh my gosh," Bush said, per a video shared by the nonprofit news organization Missouri Independent. "Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Forty-nine years. Forty-nine years. I'm sorry. Forty-nine years and they strip it away. Forty-nine years. Thirty-six million people will be affected and it's, 'Oh well.'
"Thirty-six million people and this is a far-right extremist Supreme Court that's making this decision that affects other people," Bush said.
While a handful of states put forth "trigger laws" to ban abortions following the SCOTUS opinion, some "sanctuary states," like New York and New Jersey, put laws in place to become safe havens for those seeking abortion in a post-Roe America.