'Supreme Court took away Constitutional right from Americans': Joe Biden on abortion ruling

The United States Supreme Court ended the right to abortion in a ruling that overturn constitutional protections on one of the most bitterly fought issues in America.

The court overturned the landmark 1973 decision that upheld a woman's right to an abortion, stating that individual states can now permit or restrict the procedure themselves.

"Today is a very solemn moment for the United States. The Supreme Court expressly took away a Constitutional right from the American people that it had already recognized. They simply took it away. That's never been done to a right that is so important to so many Americans," Biden wrote in a tweet.

"This fall, we must elect more senators and representatives who will codify a woman’s right to choose into federal law. We need to elect more state leaders to protect this right at the local level. We need to restore the protections of Roe as law of the land," the US president said in another tweet.

"50 years ago today, Title IX transformed our nation, benefitting millions of women and girls. As we look ahead, I am committed to protecting this progress and working to achieve full equality, inclusion, and dignity for all Americans," he added.

The ruling came after the Supreme Court had considered an appeal case involving a Mississippi law banning all abortions over 15 weeks' gestational age except in certain circumstances.

"The Constitution does not confer a right to abortion; Roe and Casey are overruled; and the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives," the Supreme Court said on Friday.

Justice Samuel Alito said, "abortion presents a profound moral issue on which Americans hold sharply conflicting views."

Alito was joined by five other conservatives on the bench. The court's three liberal justices dissented.

Separately, Chief Justice John Roberts said he would have upheld Mississippi’s law, but not overruled Roe altogether.

"With sorrow -- for this Court, but more, for the many millions of American women who have today lost a fundamental constitutional protection -- we dissent," the dissenting opinion read.

The judgement will transform abortion rights in America, with individual states now able to ban the procedure.

Demonstrators both for or against abortion rights are gathering near the U.S. Supreme Court on Capitol Hill.

[With UNI inputs]