A majority of U.S. Supreme Court justices appeared sympathetic Wednesday to the State of Mississippi’s argument that it should uphold the state’s 15-week abortion ban, imperiling almost a half century of precedent set by Roe v. Wade.
Abortion rights are more vulnerable to Supreme Court reversal now than at any time since the court legalized the procedure in its landmark 1973 ruling Roe v. Wade. The court is set to weigh in on abortion restrictions from at least two states this term. The first is a Texas law effectively outlawing abortions after six weeks. The second is a Mississippi law barring abortions after 15 weeks.
The U.S. Supreme Court will not hear Mississippi’s challenge to Roe v. Wade for more than a month, but leading abortion-rights organizers say they are not holding out hope for a favorable ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. Instead, they are preparing for a post-Roe Mississippi.
Dozens of Mississippi abortion-rights supporters gathered in the capital city over the weekend to organize and warn others about the impending peril to Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that found women have a constitional right to abortion care.
The U.S. Supreme Court has scheduled Dec. 1, 2021, oral arguments for the term’s most significant abortion case—Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. The Mississippi lawsuit aims squarely at the heart of the landmark Roe v. Wade precedent that has prohibited total abortion bans across the United States since 1973.
Abortion-rights activists are alarmed after the U.S. Supreme Court allowed a Texas law that bans almost all abortions to go into effect today, but caution that it does not necessarily foreshadow how the court will decide an upcoming Mississippi case that could determine the fate of Roe v. Wade.
Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch today urged the U.S. Supreme Court to overrule Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that upheld a woman’s right to an abortion before fetal viability. The brief is part of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a case the nation’s high court is set to hear in the fall over Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban.
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves erroneously claimed during a weekend interview that 15-week-old fetuses can survive outside the womb. That is at least seven weeks earlier than the point at which fetal viability becomes even marginally possible, scientific studies show.
The U.S. Supreme Court announced this morning that it will hear a Mississippi case challenging Roe v. Wade in defense of the state’s 15-week abortion, “The Gestational Age Act.”
Mississippi Journalism and Education Group is a a 501(c)(3) nonprofit media organization (EIN 85-1403937) for the state, devoted to going beyond partisanship and publishing solutions journalism for the Magnolia State and all of its people.
125 S. Congress Street #1324
Jackson, MS 39201
info@mississippifreepress.org
tips@mississippifreepress.org
events@mississippifreepress.org
601-362-6121
The Mississippi Free Press is a project of the Mississippi Journalism and Education Group, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit journalism organization (EIN 85-1403937).
