'God made the decision': Trump deflects credit for ruling to overturn abortion rights

Donald Trump praised the U.S. Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade but declined to claim credit during an interview with Fox News.

"God made the decision," Trump told Fox News.

The former president nominated three of the justices who struck down abortion rights, which would allow states to ban the medical procedure -- and three states have laws on the books that immediately ban most abortions -- and said he agreed with the decision.

"This is following the Constitution, and giving rights back when they should have been given long ago," Trump said. "I think, in the end, this is something that will work out for everybody."

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

"The Constitution does not prohibit the citizens of each State from regulating or prohibiting abortion," he said.

Dissenting were the three liberals on the court.

The ruling will likely set into motion a cavalcade of new laws in roughly half of the 50 US states that will severely restrict or outright ban and criminalize abortions, forcing women to travel long distances to states that still permit the procedure.

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The opinion shredded the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling by the nation's highest court that said women had the right to abortion based on the constitutional right to privacy over their own bodies.

Alito's opinion largely mirrors his draft opinion that was the subject of an extraordinary leak in early May, sparking demonstrations around the country and tightened security at the court in downtown Washington.

Barricades have been erected around the court to keep back the protesters gathered outside -- after an armed man was arrested on June 8 near the home of conservative justice Brett Kavanaugh.

The court's ruling goes against an international trend of easing abortion laws, including in such countries as Ireland, Argentina, Mexico and Colombia where the Catholic Church continues to wield considerable influence.

With additional reporting by AFP

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