Ardern reacts to US' Roe v Wade abortion ruling overturn

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has called the US Supreme Court's decision to overturn the Roe v Wade abortion ruling "incredibly upsetting".

The decision is expected to lead to abortion bans in roughly half of US states.

“Watching the removal of a woman’s fundamental right to make decisions over their own body is incredibly upsetting," Ardern said in a statement on Saturday.

“Here in New Zealand we recently legislated to decriminalise abortion and treat it as a health rather than criminal issue.

“That change was grounded in the fundamental belief that it’s a women's right to choose.

"People are absolutely entitled to have deeply held convictions on this issue. But those personal beliefs should never rob another from making their own decisions.

“To see that principle now lost in the United States feels like a loss for women everywhere. When there are so many issues to tackle, so many challenges that face woman and girls, we need progress, not to fight the same fights and move backwards," she said.

READ MORE: US Supreme Court overturns Roe v Wade abortion ruling

National Party leader Christopher Luxon also released a statement on the issue on Saturday afternoon.

“Roe v Wade is an issue for the American people who have a different set of constitutional arrangements than New Zealand. It is not a New Zealand issue," it reads.

"We respect that amongst the public and within all political parties there is a range of views on this sensitive issue. That is why abortion laws have always been a conscience vote in the New Zealand parliament.

"New Zealand’s abortion laws were debated in detail, voted on and ultimately settled in the last parliament, and so these laws will not be relitigated or revisited under a future National government.”

Earlier, Minister of Foreign Affairs Nanaia Mahuta released a statement on Twitter.

The ruling, unthinkable just a few years ago, was the culmination of decades of efforts by abortion opponents, made possible by an emboldened right side of the court that has been fortified by three appointees of former President Donald Trump.

Many states are now bracing for protests.