NPR

What Justice Kennedy's Retirement Means For Abortion Rights

Advocates on both sides of the abortion debate agree that the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy sets the stage for a battle over abortion rights unlike any in a generation.
Abortion rights proponents protest outside the Supreme Court on Tuesday. The retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy set the stage for a battle over abortion rights unlike any in a generation.

As the 2016 campaign wound down, then-candidate Donald Trump made clear that if elected, he would work to see an end to the Roe v. Wade decision on his watch.

"If we put another two or perhaps three justices on, that's really what's going to be, that what will happen," Trump said at the final presidential debate in October 2016. "And that will happen automatically in my opinion, because I am putting pro-life justices on the court."

The 1973 decision that legalized abortion nationwide won't be overturned automatically, nor without a fight. But advocates on both sides of the issue agree the sets the stage for a battle over abortion rights unlike any

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