成人快手

Millions of women in the US will lose the legal right to abortion, after the Supreme Court overturned a 50-year-old ruling that legalised it nationwide.

The court struck down the landmark Roe v Wade decision, weeks after an unprecedented leaked document suggested it favoured doing so.

The judgement will transform abortion rights in America, with individual states now able to ban the procedure.

Half of US states are expected to introduce new restrictions or bans. In total, abortion access is expected to be cut off for about 36 million women of reproductive age, according to research from Planned Parenthood, a healthcare organisation that provides abortions.

Carol Sanger is a law professor at Columbia Law School and author of About Abortion: Terminating Pregnancy in the 21st Century.

"Women in America are in for a big shock," she says, "it's going to be difficult to get appointments, it's going to be difficult to travel, it's going to be more expensive."

Picture: Anti-abortion campaigners celebrate outside the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC, on June 24, 2022 Credit: Olivier Douliery / Getty Images

Show less