Politicians on both sides of the aisle issued strong reactions to the Supreme Court's decision to overrule Roe v. Wade on Friday, eliminating a constitutional right to an abortion that had stood for a half-century.
The court's decision in the case, Dobbs v. Jackson, allows states to create their own rules regarding reproductive rights. Several states, including California, New York and Illinois, have said they will maintain abortion access. But it was likely to become illegal in about half the states, and several established "trigger laws" that functionally made abortion illegal as soon as the ruling was released.
In emotional remarks, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., called the court's ruling the cumulation of a "dark, extreme" effort led by the Republican party.
"Because of Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell and the Republican Party, their super majority and Supreme Court, American women today have less freedom than their mothers," Pelosi said. "With Roe and their attempt to destroy it, radical Republicans are charging ahead with their radical crusade to criminalize health freedom."
Pelosi also highlighted what future legislation could target.
"It's about contraception, in vitro fertilization, family planning, that is all what will spring from their decision that they made today," said Pelosi, apparently referencing a concurring opinion from Justice Clarence Thomas that called on the court to reexamine rulings on other cases related to birth control and same-sex marriage.
Pelosi also said the ruling was "hypocrisy" considering Thursday's announcement about gun legislation. On Thursday, the court ruled that the Constitution guarantees a right to carrying a gun outside the home.
"Yesterday (the court said) the states can cannot make laws governing the constitutional right to bear arms," Pelosi said. "And today, they're saying the exact reverse, that the states can overturn a constitutional right (what was) for 50 years a constitutional right."
"The hypocrisy is raging, but the harm is endless," she added.
Other politicians celebrated the ruling. Former Vice President Mike Pence shared a series of tweets about the decision, saying, "Today, Life Won."
“Now that Roe v. Wade has been consigned to the ash heap of history, a new arena in the cause of life has emerged and it is incumbent on all who cherish the sanctity of life to resolve that we will take the defense of the unborn and support for women in crisis pregnancies to every state Capitol in America," Pence said.
"Having been given this second chance for Life, we must not rest and must not relent until the sanctity of life is restored to the center of American law in every state in the land," he said.
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., addressed the ruling in a statement, saying he was "alarmed" by the ruling's support by Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, whom he voted to confirm.
“I trusted Justice Gorsuch and Justice Kavanaugh when they testified under oath that they also believed Roe v. Wade was settled legal precedent and I am alarmed they chose to reject the stability the ruling has provided for two generations of Americans,” Manchin said, adding that he was "deeply disappointed" in the court's decision.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said in a statement that the ruling will "save countless innocent lives."
“The Supreme Court is right to return the power to protect the unborn to the people’s elected representatives in Congress and the states,” McCarthy said in part.
President Joe Biden is expected to speak on the ruling this afternoon. Other politicians, including former Presidents Donald Trump and Barack Obama, also reacted to the news.
In a statement to Fox News, Trump said the ruling "will work out for everybody."
“This is following the Constitution, and giving rights back when they should have been given long ago,” Trump said, adding that the ruling "brings everything back to the states where it has always belonged."
On Twitter, Obama wrote that the court's decision "relegated the most intensely personal decision someone can make to the whims of politicians and ideologues."
"For more than a month, we’ve known this day was coming — but that doesn’t make it any less devastating," he wrote.
Related: