Conservative members of the Supreme Court seemed inclined to chip away at, if not outright overturn, what has been for decades a key tenet of reproductive rights in the US — that states cannot ban abortion before a fetus can survive outside the womb — during arguments Wednesday in a case that could have drastic consequences for the country and its highest court.
The case before the court concerns a Mississippi law that bans nearly all abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. In Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, the state is calling on the justices to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision that made abortion legal nationwide almost 50 years ago, and uphold Mississippi’s 15-week ban. If the court rules in the state’s favor, as it seems likely to do based on Wednesday’s arguments, nationwide access to abortion care could crumble. Large swaths of the South and Midwest will likely try to eliminate abortion access, forcing people to travel to other states where reproductive rights are protected or face the risks of carrying unwanted pregnancies to term or ending them in another way.
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