Michelle Obama said she was "heartbroken" after the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on Friday.
The decision is deemed a stepback as the law established the right to a legal abortion in the US almost 50 years ago.
The former first lady published an open letter on Twitter saying ‘we may now be destined to learn the painful lessons of a time before Roe was made law of the land.
"So yes, I am heartbroken – for the teenage girl, full of zest and promise, who won't be able to finish school or live the life she wants because her state controls her reproductive decisions; for the mother of a nonviable pregnancy who is now forced to bring that pregnancy to term; for the parents watching their child's future evaporate before their very eyes; for the health care workers who can no longer help them without risking jail time," Obama tweeted.
"A time when the government denied women control over their reproductive functions, forced them to move forward with pregnancies they didn’t want, and then abandoned them once their babies were born.
"When we don’t understand our history, we are doomed to repeat its mistakes", wrote Michelle Obama on Twitter.
Other political figures also spoke out about the US Supreme Court decision, including President Biden.
“They simply took it away. That's never been done to a right that is so important to so many Americans,” said Biden on Twitter.
The former first lady and senator, Hillary Clinton said that ‘today’s Supreme Court opinion will live in infamy as a step backward for women's rights and human rights.’
Republicans and religious conservatives who want to limit or ban the procedure considered the decision a victory.
The former president Donald Trump took credit for the decision.
"Today's decision, which is the biggest WIN for LIFE in a generation, along with other decisions that have been announced recently, were only made possible because I delivered everything as promised, including nominating and getting three highly respected and strong Constitutionalists confirmed to the United States Supreme Court," Trump said in a statement on Friday. "It was my great honor to do so!"
The justices, in the ruling written by conservative Justice Samuel Alito, held that the Roe decision that allowed abortions performed before a fetus would be viable outside the womb - between 24 and 28 weeks of pregnancy - was wrongly decided because the U.S. Constitution makes no specific mention of abortion rights.
By erasing abortion as a constitutional right, the ruling restored the ability of states to ban it, fundamentally altering America's landscape on the issue of reproductive rights.
Twenty-six states are either certain or considered likely to ban abortion.
