In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade June 24, overturning the constitutional protection for abortion, The Washington Post reported. The decision leaves the legal status of abortion up to states.
"The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision," Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito writes in the ruling. "It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people's elected representatives."
The final ruling comes after a draft opinion indicating the court was poised to strike down the fedral right to abortion was leaked last month. Nearly half of the states are expected to ban or restrict abortion, leaving clinics in some liberal states preparing for an influx of patients.
There are 13 states with abortion bans slated to take place within a month: Idaho, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Kentucky, the Post reported.
States likely to ban abortion within weeks or months, according to the Post, are: Iowa, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina.
Before the court's decision, clinicians urged healthcare industry leaders to prepare for the fallout.
The American Nurse Association released a statement following the ruling.
"The American Nurses Association (ANA) is dismayed by the 6-3ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court in Dobbs v, Jackson Women’s Health which has overturned the longstanding and significant precedent of Roe v. Wade," the statement said. "The Dobbs ruling removes the right of all women to access high-quality health care and make personal decisions about their sexual and reproductive health care. In doing so, it potentially paves the way for laws that will fundamentally come between patients and health care professionals, including nurses, who must be guided by ethical obligations to their patients and the profession."