Former Secretary of State and former first lady Hillary Clinton condemned the Supreme Court decision to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that recognized a woman's constitutional right to an abortion and legalized it nationwide as a "step backwards for women's rights and human rights."
In a social media post, Clinton said she was committed to protecting "reproductive freedom for everyone in America".
Fellow former first lady Michelle Obama said in her own social media statement that she was "heartbroken" by the decision on Friday.
"I am heartbroken for people around this country who just lost the fundamental right to make informed decisions about their own bodies," her post read.
The court, in a 6-3 ruling powered by its conservative majority, upheld a Republican-backed Mississippi law that bans abortion after 15 weeks. The vote was 5-4 to overturn Roe, with Chief Justice John Roberts writing separately to say he would have upheld the Mississippi law but not taken the additional step of erasing the precedent altogether.