June 24, 2022 Roe v. Wade news

By Adrienne Vogt, Aditi Sangal, Elise Hammond, Meg Wagner and Veronica Rocha, CNN

Updated 8:19 a.m. ET, June 25, 2022
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12:36 p.m. ET, June 24, 2022

Lead plaintiff in same-sex marriage case slams Thomas' calls for court to reconsider rulings

From CNN's Adam Levine

Jim Obergefell speaks outside the US Supreme Court in 2015.
Jim Obergefell speaks outside the US Supreme Court in 2015. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg/Getty Images)

Jim Obergefell, the lead plaintiff in the US Supreme Court case that legalized same-sex marriage, responded to Justice Clarence Thomas writing separately to call explicitly for the court to reconsider its rulings striking down state restrictions on contraceptives, state sodomy bans and state prohibitions on same-sex marriage.

"Clarence Thomas is a Supreme Court justice appointed by humans, he is not the Supreme Deity. The millions of loving couples who have the right to marriage equality to form their own families do not need Clarence Thomas imposing his individual twisted morality upon them. If you want to see an error in judgment, Clarence Thomas, look in the mirror," said Obergefell, also a candidate for the Ohio House, in a statement.

In their dissent, the liberal justices wrote “no one should be confident that this majority is done with its work.” 

“The right Roe and Casey recognized does not stand alone,” they wrote. “To the contrary, the Court has linked it for decades to other settled freedoms involving bodily integrity, familial relationships, and procreation. Most obviously, the right to terminate a pregnancy arose straight out of the right to purchase and use contraception. In turn, those rights led, more recently, to rights of same-sex intimacy and marriage.” 

Obergefell called the overturning of Roe v. Wade "a sad day" for women's rights.

"The reality is that women today will have less rights than their own mothers. We are going backwards and it’s both enraging and terrifying to see the excessive government overreach that this court is imposing on our country,” he said.

12:35 p.m. ET, June 24, 2022

GOP Sen. Collins says abortion decision by Kavanaugh and Gorsuch was "inconsistent"

From CNN's Ariane de Vogue and Daniella Diaz

Sen. Susan Collins attends a hearing on June 22, in Washington, DC.
Sen. Susan Collins attends a hearing on June 22, in Washington, DC. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc/Getty Images)

GOP Sen. Susan Collins said the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade was "inconsistent" with what Justice Neil Gorsuch and Justice Brett Kavanaugh said in their testimonies and meetings with her.

“This decision is inconsistent with what Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh said in their testimony and their meetings with me, where they both were insistent on the importance of supporting long-standing precedents that the country has relied upon," Collins said in a statement on Friday.

The Republican senator said the Justices indicated they believed in the importance of "supporting long-standing precedents that the country has relied upon."

Collins said earlier this year she introduced legislation with GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski to "codify the abortion rights established by Roe v. Wade and affirmed by Planned Parenthood v. Casey." The statement said the bill would reinforce the importance of abortion protections.

“Our goal with this legislation is to do what the Court should have done — provide the consistency in our abortion laws that Americans have relied upon for 50 years," Collins said.

1:00 p.m. ET, June 24, 2022

Economists warn about the ill effects of the SCOTUS ruling on women's economic and societal position

From CNN's Ariane de Vogue

Abortion rights demonstrators hold signs outside the Supreme Court in Washington, DC on June 24.
Abortion rights demonstrators hold signs outside the Supreme Court in Washington, DC on June 24. (Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

Liberal justices in their dissent of Friday's Supreme Court ruling said it will impact “countless life decisions,” including “whether and how to invest in education or careers, how to allocate financial resources and how to approach intimate family relationships.”

“Taking away the right to abortion, as the majority does today, destroys all those individual plans and expectations,” the dissent said and emphasized “in so doing, it diminishes women’s opportunities to participate fully and equally in the Nation’s political, social, and economic life.”  

The language of the dissent mirrored a “friend of the court brief” filed by economists that targeted the societal and economic effects abortion access has had on women over the last century.  

The economists pointed to studies that show that expansion of abortion access ushered in by Roe reduced teen motherhood by 34% and teen marriage by 20%.

“Studies also demonstrate that for women experiencing unintended pregnancies, access to abortion has increased the probability that they attend college and enter professional occupations,” they wrote.  

“There is a substantial body of well- developed and credible research that shows that abortion legalization and access in the United States has had—and continues to have—a significant effect on birth rates as well as broad downstream social and economic effects, including on women’s educational attainment and job opportunities,” they concluded.   

Mississippi and others, including Justice Amy Coney Barrett at oral arguments, had suggested that abortion access is no longer as relevant to women and their families in the modern day due to improvements in health care and adoption laws.  

12:23 p.m. ET, June 24, 2022

"Women will die": Chicago health care worker describes concern about illegal abortions

From CNN's Gregory Krieg

Ann Marie Staff, a 59-year-old registered nurse from outside Chicago, got news of the court’s decision on her walk from a New York City hotel to Washington Square Park.

Sitting on a park bench amid vendors, other tourists and students from nearby New York University, she quietly described the moment as “overwhelming.”

“Women will die,” she said. “I’ve been in women’s health forever. Many, many women died in backstreet abortions.”

Her partner, Staff said, was an OB-GYN before Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973 and “he told me multiple stories of death attributed to infection and things like that from trying to obtain an abortion.”

Staff said she expected women from neighboring states to begin traveling to Illinois to seek abortion procedures, but worried for those who could not afford the trip.

As she spoke, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker announced plans to call the state assembly into special season in the coming weeks to “more firmly protect women's reproductive rights in Illinois” and “address the challenges posed” by Roe’s reversal.

A Democrat, Staff seemed pessimistic that lawmakers in Washington would take act in response to the decision.

“I don’t know there’s a lot they can do,” she said. “But they need to pass legislation.”

12:25 p.m. ET, June 24, 2022

Manchin, who calls himself "pro-life," says he is "deeply disappointed" Roe v. Wade was overturned

From CNN's Ted Barrett and Morgan Rimmer

Sen. Joe Manchin speaks in Washington, DC on May 19.
Sen. Joe Manchin speaks in Washington, DC on May 19. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin said he was “deeply disappointed that the Supreme Court has voted to overturn Roe v. Wade," and he was "alarmed" that justices pulled back from their testimonies that it was settled law.

"It has been the law of the land for nearly 50 years and was understood to be settled precedent. I trusted Justice Gorsuch and Justice Kavanaugh when they testified under oath that they also believed Roe v. Wade was settled legal precedent and I am alarmed they chose to reject the stability the ruling has provided for two generations of Americans," Manchin said in a statement.   

“As a Catholic, I was raised pro-life and will always consider myself pro-life. But I have come to accept that my definition of pro-life may not be someone else’s definition of pro-life. I believe that exceptions should be made in instances of rape, incest and when the life of the mother is in jeopardy. But let me be clear, I support legislation that would codify the rights Roe v. Wade previously protected. I am hopeful Democrats and Republicans will come together to put forward a piece of legislation that would do just that,” he added.

Over in the House of Representatives, Rep. Henry Cuellar, a rare Democrat who opposes abortion rights and narrowly survived his primary against a progressive challenger, was positive on Friday's ruling. 

Cuellar had the backing of Democratic leadership, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in his primary. 

Cuellar said he still has the "same position I’ve had. I’m pro-life." 

When CNN's Manu Raju pointed out that he is in the minority of his caucus on this issue, he replied, "in my district I'm not." 

12:09 p.m. ET, June 24, 2022

US Attorney General Garland says DOJ "strongly disagrees" with SCOTUS decision

US Attorney General Merrick Garland speaks on June 8 in Washington, DC.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland speaks on June 8 in Washington, DC. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Justice Department disagrees with the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

“The Supreme Court has eliminated an established right that has been an essential component of women’s liberty for half a century – a right that has safeguarded women’s ability to participate fully and equally in society. And in renouncing this fundamental right, which it had repeatedly recognized and reaffirmed, the Court has upended the doctrine of stare decisis, a key pillar of the rule of law," according to the statement from Garland.

“The Justice Department strongly disagrees with the Court’s decision. This decision deals a devastating blow to reproductive freedom in the United States. It will have an immediate and irreversible impact on the lives of people across the country. And it will be greatly disproportionate in its effect – with the greatest burdens felt by people of color and those of limited financial means," he said.

Garland reiterated that the decision today does not ban states to keep abortion legal within their borders.

“We recognize that traveling to obtain reproductive care may not be feasible in many circumstances. But under bedrock constitutional principles, women who reside in states that have banned access to comprehensive reproductive care must remain free to seek that care in states where it is legal. Moreover, under fundamental First Amendment principles, individuals must remain free to inform and counsel each other about the reproductive care that is available in other states," he said.

“Advocates with different views on this issue have the right to, and will, voice their opinions. Peacefully expressing a view is protected by the First Amendment. But we must be clear that violence and threats of violence are not. The Justice Department will not tolerate such acts," he continued.

The DOJ "will work tirelessly to protect and advance reproductive freedom" and "strongly supports efforts by Congress to codify Americans’ reproductive rights," according to his statement.

12:04 p.m. ET, June 24, 2022

SCOTUS opinion to overturn Roe v. Wade "unleashed a movement," Planned Parenthood official says

From CNN's Rachel Janfaza

Planned Parenthood Action Fund President Alexis McGill Johnson speaks at a reproductive rights rally in Los Angeles, California, on May 14.
Planned Parenthood Action Fund President Alexis McGill Johnson speaks at a reproductive rights rally in Los Angeles, California, on May 14. (Sarah Morris/Getty Images)

Planned Parenthood Action Fund President Alexis McGill Johnson said that supporters of abortion access will not back down. In a statement on Friday, McGill said “anyone today who is scared, or angry, or determined” following the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade that “we will rebuild and reclaim the freedom that is ours.”

“In stripping away our rights, the Supreme Court and anti-abortion politicians have also unleashed a movement. We are a movement that will not compromise on our bodies, our dignity, or our freedom. We are a movement that will show up at every town hall, every legislative session, and every ballot box to demand we are treated like equal citizens. We are a movement that will do what we can to get abortion care to people and people to abortion care,” McGill Johnson said in a statement. 

“To anyone today who is scared, or angry, or determined, know this — 17 million Planned Parenthood supporters proudly stand with you. We will rebuild and reclaim the freedom that is ours. We won’t go back. And we won’t back down,” she said. 

Planned Parenthood Action Fund on Friday emphasized that abortion is “still legal in most of the country” and directed “people who need care” to abortionfinder.org, a website that lists abortion service providers.

12:40 p.m. ET, June 24, 2022

Sen. Warren on Roe v. Wade decision: "The Supreme Court does not get the last word, the people do"

Sen. Elizabeth Warren speaks with CNN on Friday.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren speaks with CNN on Friday. (CNN)

Sen. Elizabeth Warren said there are ways now to "fight back" against the ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, accusing Supreme Court justices of not staying true to their words when they were nominees.

"I am spitting mad over this. We have six extremist justices on the United States Supreme Court who have decided that their moral and religious views should be imposed on the rest of America. This is not what America wants," Warren told CNN's Erica Hill.

"And in a democracy on this issue, the Supreme Court does not get the last word, the people do. We are going to fight back. We've got tools. We're going to use them and in November, we're going to make sure that we elect enough people who believe in that democracy that we can pass Roe v. Wade and make it the law of the land again — only this time we'll do it by statute and enforce it," Warren said.

She said justices, when they were appointees, promised to follow the law "but wink, wink, nod, nod, were cleared in order to get where they got today."

"One Supreme Court nominee after another stood in front of Congress, raised their right hand and said 'not interfering with settled law, I believe in the rule of law' and said Roe v. Wade is settled law. That means that a huge proportion of the population in America believed this is not a huge issue," she said.

Warren also said that the midterm elections in November will have a focus on abortion.

"It looks like getting two more Democrats in the United States Senate who are willing to support both filibuster reform and making Roe v. Wade the law of the land. It means hanging onto the House of Representatives and it means passing Roe into law. That's what November will be all about," she said.

Warren said that she and Sen. Patty Murray led a letter with more than half of Democratic senators calling on President Biden to take immediate federal action to strengthen abortion rights.

"He can make medicated abortion more widely available. He can help with money and time off for people to be able to move across state lines. He can consider using federal lands as a place where we can set up abortion clinics," she said.

Watch Sen. Warren here:

11:57 a.m. ET, June 24, 2022

JPMorgan Chase will cover travel benefits for workers seeking abortion starting July 1 

From CNN's Alison Kosik

JPMorgan Chase is clarifying its health care benefits in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade on Friday, saying that abortion has long been a covered service for the bank and starting in July will be included under the company’s health care travel benefit.  

“As always, we’re focused on the health and well-being of our employees, and want to ensure equitable access to all benefits," JPMorgan Chase spokesperson Joseph Evangelisti told CNN on Friday. 

In a memo sent to all US JP Morgan employees on June 1, the investment bank noted that it will expand its existing health care travel benefit for any covered service “that can only be obtained far away from your home," including abortion. 

It previously only covered services such as organ transplants and bariatric surgery under that travel benefit.