The US Supreme Court decision ending the right to abortion established by Roe v Wade in 1973 has put other hard-won rights at risk, including the rights to same-sex marriage and contraception.

The level of risk depends on which opinion you read. The majority ruling written by justice Samuel Alito said: “Nothing in this opinion should be understood to cast doubt on precedents that do not concern abortion.”

But justice Clarence Thomas, in a concurring opinion, made it clear that “future cases” could curtail other rights not clearly addressed by the constitution’s 18th-century framers...