The decision by the US Supreme Court to rule there is no constitutional right to abortion, turning the decision over to the country’s 50 states instead, will send shockwaves throughout the US and wider Catholic world – both of which appear divided on the issue. Six of the nine Supreme Court Justices are declared Catholics, but not all agreed with the decision, which will be closely watched in the Western Hemisphere, where a majority of the world’s Catholics now live. Only last year, Mexico (the country with the second largest number of Catholics worldwide) decriminalised abortion in a landmark court ruling. By contrast, the world’s most Catholic country in terms of population – Brazil - allows abortion only in cases of risk to the mother’s life, if pregnancy was the result of a crime, or if the baby is anencephalic.