Roe v Wade: US Supreme Court overturns landmark abortion ruling

US top court overturns landmark 1973 decision, upending nearly five decades of abortion access in the country.

The US Supreme Court has overturned Roe v Wade, the landmark ruling that granted the right to abortion for nearly five decades in the United States.

In the decision on Friday, the country’s top court ruled in a Mississippi case that “The Constitution does not confer a right to abortion.” The justices voted 6-3 along ideological lines.

The expected rollback of Roe had sparked widespread protests and condemnation across the US, with reproductive rights advocates saying millions of women will no longer have access to abortion services.

More than two dozen US states are likely to ban abortion now that the 1973 legal precedent has been overturned, according to reproductive rights group Guttmacher Institute, a move that rights groups say disproportionately harms low-income women and communities of colour.

This is a breaking news story. More to follow.