The Supreme Court issued its opinion on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization Friday morning as a large crowd of pro-abortion demonstrators gathered outside the building.

As expected, the opinion overturns Roe v. Wade and hands the issue of abortion regulation back to individual states.

The opinion states, “The Constitution does not confer a right to abortion; Roe and Casey are overruled; and the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives.”

Liberal Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan dissented. Chief Justice Roberts issued a separate concurrence, stating he would have simply upheld the Mississippi law to ban abortion after 15 weeks without overturning Roe v. Wade.

It is expected that about half of the states will immediately enact so-called trigger legislation, most of which have been on the books for decades waiting to be activated upon Roe v. Wade’s overturning.

Immediately after the ruling was released, Missouri’s Attorney General Eric Schmitt issued an opinion that activated the state’s trigger law to ban abortions except in cases of medical emergencies.

Enforcement of such bans will fall to district attorneys, some of whom have stated they will refuse. Over 70 Democrat prosecutors issued a statement last year saying they will not bring charges in those cases as they “should not and will not criminalize healthcare decisions”, according to the AP.

Maryland’s Attorney General Brian Frosh

This story is developing and will be updated as more details become available.

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