protests erupt across the country, we're with both sides. >> the supreme court ruling shows that i never had the right to my own body. >> reversing roe, we've always considered that to be one of the first steps in our mission of making abortion unavailable and unthinkable in our nation. >> plus a look back at the landmark ruling. >> the supreme court today ruled that abortion is completely a private matter to be decided by mother and doctor in the first three months of pregnancy. >> the woman at the center of it all. >> she did not initially set out to become a plaintiff in a case

that would become one of the most important cases in the 20th century. >> the movement it inspired. >> i look on the unborn as the last disenfranchised minority in this country that has absolutely no civil rights. >> and the surprising twist. >> hallelujah! >> this special edition of "nightline," "the fall of roe," will be right back. ♪ girl yous been way too long ♪ ♪ i got to get back in my zone ♪ ♪ ooh wee ♪ ♪ hey ♪

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"nightline," "the fall of roe," continues. here now, juju chang. >> thanks for joining us. tonight, shock waves reverberating around the country after an historic overturning of roe v. wade. the supreme court eliminating the constitutional right to an abortion. the impact likely immediate. leading to sweeping abortion bans in many states across the country. a sweeping, deeply consequential decision from the nation's highest court ruling to overturn roe v. wade, rocking the foundations of more than five decades of legal precedent in our country. the court taking away a constitutional right that women in america have had for almost 50 years. women like maddie, a college student whose abortion journey

"nightline" followed last year. >> it just breaks my heart, because the one thing i think about is all of these girls and these women that are going to have to face struggles. >> reporter: today's decision reaffirming the views of anti-abortion rights advocates like kristin hawkins. >> we've been calling ourselves the pro-life generation. it's overwhelming to think now we are the first post-roe generation. >> reporter: the 6-3 decision by the court's conservative majority upheld mississippi's ban on abortions after 15 weeks. five justices -- alito, thomas, gorsuch, kavanaugh, coney barrett -- went even farther, voting to overturn roe v. wade itself. >> there's never been a case like this where settled law that has been affirmed and rea reaffirmed, granted an fortunate constitutional protection, a fundamental constitutional protection, then is removed by the court. >> reporter: this coming just

weeks after a leaked draft of the opinion circulated which nearly identically mirrored today's decision. the impact of today's ruling will be immediate. 13 states have trigger laws that automatically end access to abortion now that roe is overturned. seven have already gone into effect. among them, arkansas, which outlawed abortion today. dr. janet kathy works at the state's only abortion clinic. she was already forced to turn people away. >> we had patients in their car on their way here. you know, we called patients, it's like, i'm already on my way. and they thought, well, i'm already on my way, it will be okay. and it's like, no, it's immediate. it's i would say panic is the reaction. the. >> reporter: some of those women now have to drive seven hours to states like illinois. >> abortion access will look very, very different depending on where you live and also depending on the resources you have access to, to travel

elsewhere, if you do live in a state that restricts or prohibits abortion. >> however you feel about abortion on a personal level is up to you. what becomes problematic is when you take your personal beliefs and try to move them into law. >> reporter: lack of access to abortion disproportionately impacts low-income women and women of color, who often don't have the financial means to travel to a state where abortion is legal. what does this ruling mean for women of color across the country? >> this is pushing this health care out of reach for women of color, for folks of color who need it every single day. this has huge implications on how people manage their lives every single day. >> reporter: public opinion polls have concivil shown the majority of americans support upholding roe v. wade. in a recent abc news sla "washington post" poll, 7 in 10 people say the decision should be left to the woman and her doctor. nearly 1 in every 6 adult women have had an abortion.

>> we won't go back, we trust women! >> reporter: demonstrators flooding the streets after today's decision. young women in favor of abortion rights outraged. >> all of this is going to do is exacerbate the amount of unwanted teen pregnancies that we are currently having in the community, as well as in the entire state of texas. >> i was shocked, angry. but more than that, i was tired. access to abortion care and abortion services should not depend on your zip code. >> reporter: others jubilant. >> i'm so excited, happy, overwhelmed, to be living now in a post-roe america. >> i was shaking, and i was so happy, i couldn't even think about anything else. i was just shaking. i never thought that i would witness this moment. >> reporter: the president speaking from the white house today, emphatic in his repudiation of the ruling. >> it's a realization of an extreme ideology, a tragic error by the supreme court, in my view. >> reporter: while republican

leaders are lauding the decision. >> you know, today's supreme court decision in dobbs is the most important pro-life ruling in american history. we now have a voice for all life. >> reporter: multiple state leaders vowing to keep access to abortion open for anyone seeking them in their state. >> we will not stand on the sidelines. >> the west coast of the united states is going to stand strong. >> we'll fight like hell to protect your rights and your safety. >> reporter: in texas, restrictions have already been in place since the fall when the state legislature banned abortions as early as 6 weeks. a decision that has since affected countless women, including madi, who found out she was pregnant just days after the law went into effect. >> when she told me that i was measuring at 10 1/2 weeks, i just cried. i was heartbroken. and terrified. i immediately knew that any chance i had of being able to

have this procedure done in texas was gone. >> reporter: so she was forced to travel 400 miles away, across state lines, to a clinic in mississippi. jackson women's health organization, the very clinic at the heart of the supreme court case. >> do you feel secure in your decision today? >> yeah. my decision hasn't wavered. it's my body, and it's my choice. i don't think it's right for people to try and convince others when it's not their life that's about to change. >> you said in our original pieces that your body is your property, you should have control over it. what does this ruling tell you about who has control of reproductive rights, of frankly, women's bodies? >> it shows that i never had the right to my own body. it's clear now that it's up to texas legislation. >> reporter: madi said she had the means and the support to fly to mississippi for her

procedure. but mississippi is one of the states with a trigger ban. the clinic she went, to the pink house, announcing that it too will soon have to close its doors. >> what's your reaction to hearing that news? >> it breaks my heart because it was the only clinic. >> for people like you who are having to travel out of texas to get to a clinic, what does closing the mississippi clinic and the 13 other states that have trigger laws do to women looking for abortion services? >> it makes everything so much scarier, because the demand becomes higher. i couldn't go to louisiana because it was booked up three weeks. i didn't have three weeks to wait. these women are going to lose all choice that they have because of the little things that each state has done to make it difficult. >> reporter: today's ruling a victory decades in the making for anti-abortion rights

activists. kristin hawkins is the president of students for life of america. the group has had a vocal and vigorous presence at nearly every abortion event. >> today i speak to you pregnant with my fourth child. my first daughter. we are the pro-life generation! >> reporter: "nightline" has followed hawkins to protests and rallies like the march for life since 2015. >> at the end of my talk i'm going to go, "for me are the" -- you need to start chanting it. >> reporter: hawkins' work gaining momentum with donald trump's supreme court picks. we were with her in 2018 as she lobbied for brett kavanaugh's supreme court. >> mediconfirmation. how has your mission changed? >> our mission hasn't changed. reversing roe we considered to be one of our first steps in making abortion unavailable and unthinkable in our nation. >> will you be going after

those -- the pregnant women themselves now, given that it's the act of getting abortion that is now illegal? >> we do not believe in prosecuting or putting a woman who has, you know, solicited an abortion, has had an abortion, into jail. because we very much view her as the second victim of the abortion industry that has told her that she is not capable, that she is not strong enough. >> are you fighting to stop abortions in the case of rape and incest as well? >> we've been very clear that a child's circumstance of their conception doesn't negate their basic humanity and their right to be born. >> if a 14-year-old girl is raped by her father, would you try to deny her an abortion? >> i think it's almost laziness to say, oh, a woman's been raped, therefore we're going to protect her access to abortion and that solves her problem. that actually doesn't solve her problem. >> reporter: hawkins says, in addition to getting abortion

banned outright, her group will now work to raise awareness of existing support services for pregnant women and to advocate against medical abortion pills. tonight, people across the country making their voices heard, like madi, who says the fight continues. >> this is a big deal. and i'm worried that the wakeup call we needed was roe being overturned. and it's too late. because now everything has become incredibly more difficult. and we are going to have to fight an incredibly hard and long uphill battle that women my age are not prepared for. >> we trust women, we won't go back! up next, the backstory of roe in roe v. wade. and the texas woman who made that landmark decision possible. dry skin is sensitive skin, too.

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"nightline," "the fall of roe," continues. here again, juju chang. >> now a look back at the woman behind the groundbreaking law that protected a woman's right to an abortion and how it inspired the movement that led to today's historic decision. >> the supreme court today ruled that abortion is completely a private matter to be decided by mother and doctor in the first three months of pregnancy. >> roe v. wade was decided in january 22nd, 1973.

>> it was a 7-2 opinion. five of those seven justices were republican appointed. >> we'll hear arguments from number 18, roe against wade -- >> this was a case about a texas woman, jane roe, a pseudonym for her real name, taking on dallas county d.a. henry wade, to challenge texas' abortion laws. >> jane roe was a woman named norma mac corby. for years she was totally anonymous. >> she had actually already twice given birth, and both times given her babies up for adoption. so she was vehement that this time she did not want to carry her pregnancy to term. >> at the time, being preg nant and in a condition where you didn't have higher education, where you were economically fraught situation, it meant a life of continued poverty. >> she ends up getting connected to these two young attorneys, linda coffey and sarah

weddington. >> she communicated to norma that she was not going to be able to have an abortion, but she could help other women to do so if she became their plaintiff, if she decided to proceed. >> mrs. weddington, you may proceed whenever you're ready. >> a pregnancy to a woman is perhaps one of the most determinative aspects of her life. >> she did not initially set out to become a plaintiff in a case that would become one of the most important cases in the 20th century. while the supreme court in roe v. wade held that women had a constitutional right to access abortion, the decision came too late for norma mccorvey to access her wanted abortion. >> when the decision came down, there was opposition brewing. but we didn't really see the flashpoint and divisive political debate that we see today. >> let your baby live! >> if a woman does not want to have a pregnancy, she will find a way to end it, whether it's legal or illegal.

>> the conservative movement in the '80s really latched on to abortion as an issue that they saw would give them energy in their base. that's when they started to lay the groundwork for this movement that took off. >> within just the last few years, here in washington and across the country, tens of thousands of people, many of whom had never been involved in anything more political than a pta meeting, have gotten involved in the pro-life cause. >> it is jerry falwell who really says he makes abortion the most important rallying cry in his organization. >> he founds the moral majority. >> i look on the unborn as the last disenfranchised minority in this country that has absolutely no civil rights. >> and they have the perfect person entering the white house at that point. >> today the president announced some new regulations he would like to see in order to end the

use of federal funds for abortion counseling and referrals. >> we must not rest and i pledge that i will not rest until a human life amendment becomes a part of our constitution. >> we have a very popular conservative president who has delivered on many of his promises. do you think he can deliver on his promise to stop abortion? >> he cannot deliver on this promise any more than he could deliver on the promise that he has made since 1980 when he was elected. people simply do not accept his position on this issue. >> it is a woman's choice! a woman's choice! >> as the movement is gathering force, norma mccorvey is nowhere to be found. she's living in anonymity. she had preferred to remain quiet. so when she went public as jane roe, it was a celebration, really, among abortion rights advocates. >> women should choose their own destiny. we should have the right to control our own bodies.

>> it was equally shocking when she flipped sides in 1995. >> now i've changed my position on choice. >> norma says, you know what i'm going to switch sides, and she does. in a swimming pool in texas while the cameras are rolling. >> hallelujah! here she is! >> she's baptized christian and takes up the cause of the anti-abortion movement. >> what ends up happening then is that just as she was sort of a complicated advocate for the pro-choice on this side, now she's the complicated advocate for the pro-life on that side. >> at the end of her life norma gives an interview to this documentary "aka jane roe." >> this is my deathbed confession. >> she switches sides again. she says she felt used by the anti-abortion movement and she's always been in favor of a woman's right to choose. >> did they use you as a trophy? >> of course. i was the big fish. >> mccorvey was a complex person

and had a complex journey, with many different phases. in some ways that's true about the history of this country and the legal debate around abortion. it has had twists and turns. >> but it's really conservatives who build the most momentum, chipping away at roe over those years. >> hey, hey, ho, ho, roe v. wade has got to go! >> one thing is clear, this is in no way the final chapter in this country's debate over abortion. abortion. >> we'll be right back. ♪♪ in the future we'll travel to incredible places with the help of magical technology. but what about today? i want my magical future now. ♪♪ i have places to go. ♪♪ rocks to climb. ♪♪ sights to see. and flights to catch... i can't wait for what tomorrow will bring, but in the meantime, let's enjoy the ride... ♪♪

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. be sure to stay with us for our continuing coverage of the monumental abortion ruling. that's "nightline" for tonight. you can watch all our full episodes on hulu. we'll see you right back here monday. thanks for staying up with us. good night, america. have a great weekend.