WASHINGTON—Today, the U.S. Supreme Court correctly held in a 6-3 decision, in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, that the people through their elected representatives can protect innocent unborn children from abortion, and a majority of the court ruled to overturn Roe v. Wade’s distortion of the U.S. Constitution. 
 
Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts made the following statement Friday about this momentous decision: 

“This is a great day in American history, especially for the millions of children whose innocent lives will be spared from the horrors of abortion in the years to come. For too long, Roe v. Wade has poisoned our courts, our culture, and our laws. Today’s decision corrects the grave constitutional error of Roe v. Wade—and finally gives the American people, through their elected representatives, the power to fix America’s extreme abortion laws and enshrine protections for the unborn in law. 

 

“This victory is not the end of the pro-life cause, but a new beginning. Now is the time for state lawmakers to protect life, which begins at conception. Congress also has an obligation at the federal level to protect the unborn. Those who seek parity with nations like North Korea and China and want to keep abortion on demand legal up until birth will fight tooth-and-nail to protect this vile practice.  

 

“Going forward, pro-life Americans will need to hold policymakers accountable for protecting unborn children and their parents through policies that are rooted in sound ethics and science. Children in the womb have fingerprints and feel pain—their beating hearts should never be silenced. 

 

“We must revitalize a culture of life in America that will provide loving options and support to parents, and ultimately make abortion unthinkable.” 

Check out the Heritage Foundation’s new interactive map that categorizes each state’s current gestational protections for unborn children. The map also provides an outlook of each state’s potential to enhance gestational protections for unborn children in America’s new post-Roe landscape.