Roe v. Wade overturned, activists outside Supreme Court react to historic decision

Pro-life activists rejoiced as pro-choice activists expressed disappointment after the Supreme Court overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, giving individual states the authority to decide their abortion laws. 

"I'm shaking, and we obviously knew this was coming," a pro-choice activist told Fox News following the decision. "It's still [a] shock that we can lose our rights like this."

"How can our nation be blessed if we just don't care about life in the womb and the unborn," a pro-life activist said. "Yeah, we are very stoked that this is going back to the states."

The Supreme Court's ruling came in the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which centered on a Mississippi law that banned abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The decision effectively ends the recognition of a constitutional right to abortion and gives individual states the power to allow, limit or ban the practice altogether.

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Another pro-choice activist said, "It's so frustrating that something like this, after so many years of precedent, can be overturned."

"We know that abortion hurts women and we can do better for them and we're prepared to give them the resources they need to help them," a pro-life woman told Fox News.

A leaked February draft opinion indicated that the court may move in that direction. The final opinion was released Friday, June 24. 

At least 13 states in the country have so-called "trigger laws" banning most abortions that will take effect immediately or within weeks of Roe v. Wade being overturned. 

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"We end this opinion where we began. Abortion presents a profound moral question. The Constitution does not prohibit the citizens of each State from regulating or prohibiting abortion. Roe and Casey arrogated that authority. We now overrule those decisions and return that authority to the people and their elected representatives," Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the court's opinion.

One pro-choice man told Fox News, "How can you explain a Democratic Party that has failed to move on Roe v. Wade, to codify it, for 40 years?" 

"Except they don't have the value system," he continued. 

"I'm very afraid for our future," one woman said. "We don't have the systems in place to support the children of children that weren't ready to be parents."

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A pro-life woman who traveled from San Francisco told Fox News she was ecstatic after hearing the decision.

"Many babies will be saved because of this happening today," she continued.

"I hope that in time we'll be able to change our Supreme Court to actually make them be wisdom for our nation instead of reactionism," another pro-choice woman said.

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Meanwhile, abortion access is expected to continue or even expand in blue states like California and Oregon, which have moved to protect abortion rights in recent weeks.

Ron Blitzer, Kelly Laco, Sam Dorman, and Jessica Chasmar contributed to this report.