NEWS Supreme Court pushes divided nation closer to breaking point with new fights over abortion

The contrast between the theoretical legal bubble of the Supreme Court chamber and the confused, divided nation rocked by the destabilizing decisions of its conservative majority has never been more stark.

New political and legal battles are raging in the aftermath of the court overturning the constitutional right to an abortion, which went against majority public opinion on the matter. A political system and national cohesion stretched by a pandemic and ideological divides is being driven closer to a breaking point. Millions of Americans are left unsure of their rights and health care options with no clarity on complex medical, legal and ethical issues suddenly thrown by the court's monumental decision.

For abortion opponents, who see ending a pregnancy as tantamount to the murder of a fetus, these are unavoidable consequences of a moral wrong being corrected. But Americans who favor abortion rights and live in states where they are now illegal feel themselves victims of unacceptable government intrusion into their decisions about their health and families.

Regardless of their philosophical positions on ending a pregnancy, leaders on both sides of the political aisle are grappling with governing challenges caused by the sudden end to legal abortion in some states. Republicans who long promised to outlaw the procedure are facing demands to provide more social services for people whom they force to give birth -- and their babies. Democrats are considering how to bolster abortion rights in blue states against a possible push by future Republican majorities in Washington for a national ban.

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Tensions are already flaring between anti- and pro-abortion rights states. Big business is grappling with how to help workers get reproductive services and avoid political fallout in red states. The abortion rights movement is beginning to fight back and the White House is balancing demands from progressives for President Joe Biden to move aggressively to safeguard abortion rights with the limits of his executive power. And the implications for the midterm elections and the transformed 2024 presidential race are growing.

Perhaps the United States eventually achieves some uneasy equilibrium on abortion. But so far, local, state and national leaders have been knocked sideways by the court's decision. Years of patchwork abortion practices and confusion lie ahead.

Justice Samuel Alito argued last week that he and his conservative colleagues could "not pretend to know" how the political system would respond to their judicial earthquake but said authority to regulate abortion must be up to the people.

But the rest of the country has to live with what he wrought in his majority opinion and the consequences of the sudden withdrawal of an established constitutional right -- regardless of individual views on abortion