The US Supreme Court has ended the country’s constitutional right to choose abortion.
The court this afternoon confirmed that it was overturning the 1973 Roe v Wade ruling that recognised a woman’s constitutional right to access abortion services and legalised it throughout the US.
The power to decide on abortion rights will now be handed to each of the 50 States to decide individually.
At least 25 are poised to introduce new laws making it illegal to access abortion in many cases.
Some of the states plan to rule out abortion even where conception has resulted from rape or incest.
The Supreme Court opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito overturns the Roe-v-Wade which legalised abortion up to the point of viability - generally accepted to be 24 weeks gestation - across the US.
It then largely upheld that right in 1992 in a decision known as Planned Parenthood-v-Casey.
Today’s opinion overturns both decisions with Justice Alito claiming they were wrong the day they were decided and must be overturned.
The new opinion upholds a Republican-backed Mississippi law which will ban abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
