LIBERAL WING

CONSERVATIVE WING

Kagan

Thomas

Roberts

Ginsburg

Sotomayor

Breyer

Alito

Kavanaugh

Gorsuch

Trump appointees

Very Unlikely

Less Likely

Most Likely

Nuclear Options

Overturn Roe v. Wade

Chip Away At Roe v. Wade

These are the most extreme, and therefore least likely, scenarios.

The Supreme Court could reverse the precedent, but it is not likely to take such a significant step in the short term.

The court is much more likely to allow states to impose new restrictions on abortion.

The court could rule that fetuses are persons protected by the Constitution.

The court could abolish the right to privacy by reversing the 1965 case Griswold v. Connecticut.

Under the 1992 case Planned Parenthood v. Casey, states may not impose a substantial obstacle — or an “undue burden” — on a woman’s ability to get an abortion.

If Roe v. Wade were overturned, the right to privacy would remain but would no longer include the right to an abortion.

The court could interpret that standard more narrowly to allow states to impose increasingly severe limits.

Abortion = Murder

States could restrict or ban abortion because it would no longer be a constitutional right.

Abortion is banned nationwide.

This would eliminate the legal foundation of the right to an abortion.

States would have more leeway to restrict abortion.

It would also endanger other privacy-based rights, like birth control and same-sex marriage.

States could restrict or ban abortion because it would no longer be a constitutional right.