In a stunning retreat from more than three decades of precedent, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the first-ever federal ban on abortion, which outlaws certain second-trimester abortions and has no exception in cases when a woman's health is in danger.  This decision represents a monumental departure from prior cases, and with it the Court effectively eliminated one of Roe v. Wade's core protections:  that a woman's health must always be paramount.  Perhaps most ominously, President Bush's appointees to the Court provided the critical votes needed to erase this core protection of Roe – therefore likely signaling a seismic shift in the Court's future rulings on the choice issue.  The ramifications of the decision are not limited to a single statute.  The Roberts Court not only upheld a dangerous and invasive federal law, it gave the green light to anti-choice politicians to enact new restrictions to test the shrinking contours of the right to privacy.

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