Former Justice Breyer Says He Urged Colleagues Not to Reverse Roe v. Wade

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer poses during an interview with Agence France-Presse at the Supreme Court in Washington, on May 17, 2012. Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images

Former Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer said in a televised interview that he pushed his colleagues on the court to change their votes and not overturn Roe v. Wade, the seminal 1973 precedent that legalized abortion in the United States, a ruling that, in the end, they voted to reverse.

Breyer, 84, was referring to the decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, in which the Supreme Court voted 6-3 on June 24 to uphold a Mississippi law that bans abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The court also voted 5-4 to overturn Roe, returning the regulation of abortion to the states.