Tears of rage vs joy as US Supreme Court strikes down abortion laws

The Supreme Court has ended constitutional protections for abortion that had been in place nearly 50 years.

Reaction was strong and swiftly delivered outside the Supreme Court after the ruling was publicly released.

A crowd of abortion supporters swelled to the hundreds after the ruling was issued. One chanted into a bullhorn, that both the ruling and the court were "illegitimate."

Araceli Herrera said she had traveled from San Antonio, Texas to be at the Supreme Court. Reflecting on her personal situation, Herrera said she had been raped when she was young and forced to have a child. Now, Herrera said she was "really sad," with the decision and described it as "slavery for the women of our country."

A competing faction demonstrated in favor of the ruling, holding signs saying "the future is anti-abortion″ and “dismember Roe.”

Lydia Taylor, with the Students for Life group, said she was "was crying tears of joy," when she found out. "We still have a ton of work to do to get all the states to ban abortion," she said. "But this is a huge step."

The ruling came more than a month after the stunning leak of a draft opinion by Justice Samuel Alito indicating the court was prepared to take this momentous step.

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Three of the court's liberal justices wrote in a joint dissent that the decision would bring "sorrow" for the many millions of American women who have today lost a fundamental constitutional protection.