Friday on Newsmax, Rev. Franklin Graham praised the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, calling the abortions of more than 60 million fetuses since the landmark court ruling 50 years ago a "genocide against the unborn." More than 63 million abortions are estimated to have taken place in the U.S. since the Supreme Court's decision, according to an analysis.
The court's overturning of the 1973 ruling is likely to lead to abortion bans in roughly half of U.S. states.
"Today, abortion is not illegal in the United States but of course it's going back to the states to decide what abortion rights should be in that state. It should be at the state level," Graham, president and CEO of the Samaritan's Purse, an evangelical Christian humanitarian aid organization, told Newsmax's "The Record With Greta Van Susteran."
"I wish it was wiped out completely but it's not. There are going to be many states that will permit abortions, but I believe this is a step in the right direction."
The ruling came more than a month after the stunning leak of a draft opinion by Justice Samuel Alito indicating the court was prepared to take this momentous step.
Alito, in the final opinion issued Friday, wrote that Roe and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the 1992 decision that reaffirmed the right to abortion, were wrong and had to be overturned.
"We therefore hold that the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion. Roe and Casey must be overruled, and the authority to regulate abortion must be returned to the people and their elected representatives," Alito wrote, in an opinion that was very similar to the leaked draft.
Joining Alito were Thomas and Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett. The latter three justices are Trump appointees. Thomas first voted to overrule Roe 30 years ago.
Four justices would have left Roe and Casey in place.
Graham said abortions should be banned in every U.S. state.
"I agree with the Vice President [Mike Pence] completely on this. He is absolutely right," he said.
"We have a lot of evils in this world and abortion is one of those evils and I hope and pray that one day it will be terminated in this country in every state," he added.
Mississippi, Alabama, Kentucky and Missouri are among 13 states, mainly in the South and Midwest, that already have laws on the books to ban abortion in the event Roe was overturned. Another half-dozen states have near-total bans or prohibitions after six weeks of pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant.
In roughly a half-dozen other states, including West Virginia and Wisconsin, the fight will be over dormant abortion bans that were enacted before Roe was decided in 1973 or new proposals to sharply limit when abortions can be performed, according to Guttmacher.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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