The Supreme Court on Monday said it would hear a case from Mississippi challenging Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that established a constitutional right to abortion. The case will give the court\u2019s new 6-to-3 conservative majority its first opportunity to weigh in on state laws restricting abortion.<\/p>\n
The case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women\u2019s Health Organization, No. 19- 1392, concerns a law enacted by the Republican-dominated Mississippi legislature that banned abortions if \u201cthe probable gestational age of the unborn human\u201d was determined to be more than 15 weeks. The statute included narrow exceptions for medical emergencies or \u201ca severe fetal abnormality.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lower courts said the law was plainly unconstitutional under Roe, which forbids states from banning abortions before fetal viability \u2014 the point at which fetuses can sustain life outside the womb, or around 23 or 24 weeks.<\/p>\n
Mississippi\u2019s sole abortion clinic sued, saying the law ran afoul of Roe and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the 1992 decision that affirmed Roe\u2019s core holding.<\/p>\n
Judge Carlton W. Reeves of Federal District Court in Jackson, Miss., blocked the law in 2018, saying the legal issue was straightforward and questioning the state lawmakers\u2019 motives.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe state chose to pass a law it knew was unconstitutional to endorse a decades-long campaign, fueled by national interest groups, to ask the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade,\u201d Judge Reeves wrote. \u201cThis court follows the commands of the Supreme Court and the dictates of the United States Constitution, rather than the disingenuous calculations of the Mississippi Legislature.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the recent changes in the membership of the Supreme Court, it may be that the state believes divine providence covered the Capitol when it passed this legislation,\u201d wrote Judge Reeves. \u201cTime will tell. If overturning Roe is the state\u2019s desired result, the state will have to seek that relief from a higher court. For now, the United States Supreme Court has spoken.\u201d<\/p>\n
A three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in New Orleans, affirmed Judge Reeves\u2019s ruling. \u201cIn an unbroken line dating to Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court\u2019s abortion cases have established (and affirmed, and reaffirmed) a woman\u2019s right to choose an abortion before viability,\u201d Judge Patrick E. Higginbotham wrote for majority.<\/p>\n
Judge James C. Ho, issued a reluctant concurring opinion expressing misgivings about the Supreme Court\u2019s abortion jurisprudence.<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing in the text or original understanding of the Constitution establishes a right to an abortion,\u201d he wrote. \u201cRather, what distinguishes abortion from other matters of health care policy in America \u2014 and uniquely removes abortion policy from the democratic process established by our Founders \u2014 is Supreme Court precedent.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lynn Fitch, Mississippi\u2019s attorney general, urged the justices to hear the state\u2019s appeal in order to reconsider their abortion jurisprudence. \u201c\u2018Viability\u2019 is not an appropriate standard for assessing the constitutionality of a law regulating abortion,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n
Lawyers for the clinic said the case was straightforward. The law, they wrote, \u201cimposes, by definition, an undue burden.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt places a complete and insurmountable obstacle in the path of every person seeking a pre-viability abortion after 15 weeks who does not fall within its limited exceptions,\u201d they wrote. \u201cIt is unconstitutional by any measure.\u201d<\/p>\n
The court will hear arguments in the case during its next term, which starts in October. A decision is not expected until the spring or summer of 2022.<\/p>\n