There was strong and mixed political reaction on Friday after the U.S. Supreme Court ended constitutional protections for abortion that had been in place for nearly 50 years. Politicians including former U.S. President Barack Obama and former Vice President Mike Pence took to Twitter to deliver their reaction.

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. 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.