Roe v. Wade reactions: Joe Biden, Barack and Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, Stephen King...
Politicians, actors and activists have reacted to the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade abortion ruling.
Last year, the US Supreme Court set a precedent by hearing arguments in the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, concerning a Mississippi anti-abortion law. Nearly seven months later, the highest court in the US has overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling of 1973, thereby striking down the constitutional right to abortion. As of now, individual states will have the ability to make their own legislation regarding abortion law, with 13 having trigger laws in place to do exactly that in the aftermath of Friday’s ruling.
US President Joe Biden reacted to the Supreme Court ruling, describing the decision as “turning back the clock in the United States more than 150 years.”
“This fall Roe is on the ballot,” Biden added during his speech, urging Democrats to flock to the polls for the midterm elections.
After the Supreme Court ruling, actors, philanthropists and politicians vented their fury on social media.
Michelle Obama: “I’m absolutely terrified that this is where we are”
“I’m absolutely terrified that this is where we are - that after so many decades of people fighting for women’s rights to their own bodies, today’s decision has stripped us of that,” Former First Lady Michelle Obama wrote.
Former President Barack Obama added: “Today, the Supreme Court not only reversed nearly 50 years of precedent, it relegated the most intensely personal decision someone can make to the whims of politicians and ideologues - attacking the essential freedoms of millions of Americans.”
Oscar-winner Patricia Arquette wrote: “This Supreme Court is an absolute disaster. From giving people the right to carry guns to taking away Womens rights of autonomy over their own bodies. We weren’t being reactive we saw it coming,” while Elizabeth Banks made a concise summary of the situation in the US in the aftermath of the high school massacre at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas – one of the states that will swiftly enact a trigger law placing an almost complete ban on abortion: “Everybody gets a gun but nobody gets bodily autonomy. America.”
Bestselling author Stephen King added his own pithy observation: “It’s the best Supreme Court the 19th Century has yet produced.”
Academy Award winner Ariana DeBose voiced what many are thinking when she posted that America is “in the fight of your life.”
Hillary Clinton: “A step backward for women’s rights and human rights”
Former First Lady and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said the US Supreme Court’s decision would “live in infamy:”
“Most Americans believe the decision to have a child is one of the most sacred decisions there is, and that such decisions should remain between patients and their doctors. Today’s Supreme Court opinion will live in infamy as a step backward for women’s rights and human rights.”