Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/19-1392_6j37.pdf/19-1392_6j37.pdf
Page Number: 9.0

Cite as:  597 U. S. ____ (2022) 

1 

Opinion of the Court 

NOTICE:  This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the 
preliminary  print  of  the  United  States  Reports.  Readers  are  requested  to 
notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of the United States, Wash-
ington, D. C. 20543, of any typographical or other formal errors, in order that 
corrections may be made before the preliminary print goes to press. 

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

_________________ 

No. 19–1392 
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THOMAS E. DOBBS, STATE HEALTH OFFICER OF 
THE MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, 
ET AL., PETITIONERS v. JACKSON WOMEN’S 
HEALTH ORGANIZATION, ET AL. 

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF 
APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT 

[June 24, 2022] 

JUSTICE ALITO delivered the opinion of the Court. 
Abortion presents a profound moral issue on which Amer-
icans hold sharply conflicting views.  Some believe fervently 
that  a  human  person  comes  into  being  at  conception  and 
that  abortion  ends  an  innocent  life.    Others  feel  just  as
strongly that any regulation of abortion invades a woman’s
right  to  control  her  own  body  and  prevents  women  from 
achieving full equality.  Still others in a third group think 
that abortion should be allowed under some but not all cir-
cumstances, and those within this group hold a variety of 
views about the particular restrictions that should be im-
posed.

For the first 185 years after the adoption of the Constitu-
tion, each State was permitted to address this issue in ac-
cordance with the views of its citizens.  Then, in 1973, this 
Court decided Roe v. Wade, 410 U. S. 113.  Even though the 
Constitution makes no mention of abortion, the Court held 
that it confers a broad right to obtain one.  It did not claim 
that American law or the common law had ever recognized