Kennedy's retreat could open the door to a new attack on legal abortion

"There is no doubt that the court will reconsider its position on abortion," said Murray

. According to jurists and commentators, the decision to defeat Roe would not necessarily be immediate or without serious political repercussions. ] A challenge to a state abortion law should clear its way through the judicial system and reach the Supreme Court before the conservative majority would even have a chance to overthrow Roe. It could take years

And it is not certain that even with a strongly anti-abortion newcomer, the court could muster a majority to bring down Roe. This is because Roberts has often declared his respect for "established" judicial precedents, and "you can imagine that for the legitimacy of the court, the precedent would be of importance to him," Jeffrey Rosen, President of the National Constitution Center,

Roberts specifically addressed the entrenched nature of Roe twice in Senate confirmation hearings, first in 2003, when he was appointed to the Court of Appeals of the United States for Washington, DC

"Roe v. Wade C is the established law of the land," he said. "There is nothing in my personal opinions that would prevent me from fully and faithfully applying this precedent."

Then, in 2005, during his Chief Justice Hearings, he reiterated that Roe was "established as a precedent of the court to be upheld according to the principles of stare decisis " – Latin for "supporter things decided. "

Yet, if the court chose to sink deep into Roe, many states "If Roe v. Wade is overthrown, in 24 states, the right to abortion is most at risk of loss – these states could outright prohibit abortion, "he said in a statement. update this year from his "What If Roe Fell"

And the court would not have to overthrow Roe to dramatically erode access to legal abortion.

Over the years, many legal cases have sought to erode access to abortion, rather than invalidate Roe. Kennedy has often voted against such attacks, including only two years ago in Whole Woman's Health against Hellerstedt.

Kennedy joined a five-vote majority in finding that a Texas law imposed an "undue burden" on women by imposing code requirements on clinics that provide abortion services and require that all Doctors must have abortion privileges at a local hospital to provide abortions – a requirement that, according to women's groups, would have forced more than three-quarters of clinics in this vast, mostly rural state to close. According to Kennedy's successor, he may face another partial challenge to abortion rights relatively soon.

In Iowa, the nation's most restrictive abortion law, banning most abortions after the detection of a fetal heartbeat, it was expected that this measure would come into effect on July 1. However, this remains unresolved because the law is already challenged in the courts.