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Abortion rights groups are issuing serious warnings that access to abortion could be sharply reduced across the country if the Supreme Court uses a Mississippi case to overturn the Roe v. Wade.
The warnings come after Mississippi explicitly urged judges Thursday to overturn the landmark 1973 ruling when the court reconsidered Mississippi’s ban on virtually all abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
“It cannot be overstated how dire the implications would be if Roe v. Wade were overturned,” said Vangela Wade, president of the Mississippi Center for Justice, who is co-counsel on the case. “The women of Mississippi and this country would lose their fundamental right to plan for their own future. Instead, that power would be in the hands of the government. “
Abortion opponents are set to face a sympathetic Supreme Court bench that includes six conservative justices – including three former candidates President Trump
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It’s much nicer than just a year ago, when in a 2020 abortion decision, a mere 5-4 majority voted to block an abortion restriction in Louisiana, the judge in. Chief John Roberts casting the deciding vote alongside justice Ruth bader ginsburg
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A decision undermining Roe, who first established a constitutional right to abortion, would have a cascading effect in dozens of states, advocates say. The South and Midwestern United States in particular could see severe restrictions and even outright bans on the procedure, they warn.
According to abortion rights think tank Guttmacher Institute, more than 90 abortion restrictions have already been enacted this year alone, leading the group to describe 2021 as “the worst legislative year ever” for women. abortion rights in the United States.
“The 2021 abortion restrictions amplify the damage from previous ones: each additional restriction increases the logistical, financial and legal barriers for patients to care, especially in areas where entire groups of states are hostile to abortion.” , the group said in an updated analysis released this month.
The brief filed Thursday by the Mississippi attorney general was seen as raising the stakes in the abortion case the judges will hear during their next term, which begins in October.
Calling the abortion court precedent “extremely bogus,” Attorney General Lynn Fitch (R) explicitly placed the dispute over the restrictive Mississippi law on a collision course with the landmark 1973 ruling in Roe that first articulated the constitutional right to abortion.
“This Court should set aside Roe and Casey,” Fitch wrote, also referring to the 1992 court decision in Planned Parenthood v. Casey. “Roe and Casey are totally wrong. They have proven to be hopelessly inapplicable. … And nothing more than a complete break with these cases can stem the damage they have caused.
A Supreme Court precedent dating back to Roe forbids states to ban abortion before fetal viability, which occurs around 24 weeks. The Mississippi law in question the next term creates only narrow exceptions to its 15-week ban.
The state’s appeal comes after losing two rounds in lower courts. In 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit ruled that the Mississippi restriction was an unconstitutional ban on a woman’s right to terminate an unwanted pregnancy before fetal viability.
The appeals court found that the Mississippi restriction violated “an unbroken line dating from Roe v. Wade ”, in which the Supreme Court has consistently reaffirmed“ a woman’s right to choose an abortion before viability ”.
But abortion rights advocates warn that the court’s unbroken line of precedent is about to be broken in the upcoming case – with dire consequences to follow.
The Center for Reproductive Rights analyzed abortion laws in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and several U.S. territories for a 2019 study titled “What if Roe Falls?” The group listed the measures that would remain in place if Roe were weakened or overthrown, and ranked jurisdictions along a continuum from “extended access” to “hostile.”
The study found that abortion would remain legal in 21 states, while 24 states and three territories would likely adopt some form of ban. In the remaining five states, abortion would remain “accessible but vulnerable”.
Nancy Northup, who heads the Center for Reproductive Rights group, which is co-counsel on the case, called Mississippi’s legal position “astonishing,” noting “the avalanche of abortion bans and restrictions that are adopted across the country “.
“If Roe falls, half of the states in the country are on the verge of a complete ban on abortion,” Northup said. “Women of childbearing age in the United States have never known a world in which they lack this basic right, and we will continue to fight to make sure they never do.”
Mississippi’s brief elicited a mixed reaction among court observers. Pundits have questioned whether his explicit attack on Roe was an example of bold but brazen advocacy, or something more calculated.
Geoffrey Stone, a professor at the University of Chicago Law School, said the brief “goes way beyond what I expected.”
“He does not focus on the 15 week rule, but seems to assert that any rational basis is sufficient to ban abortion,” he said. “To dismiss Roe entirely on the theory that rational justification is sufficient is absurd. “
Other court observers have suggested that the Mississippi moon-shooting approach could be designed to give the court political cover. Cracking down on Roe without formally nullifying it could allow a conservative majority to erode abortion rights while creating the appearance of judicial restraint.
“The Court could confirm [Mississippi’s] Incredibly restrictive abortion law without * formally * overturning Roe, and some will (wrongly) describe him as ‘moderate’, ”tweeted Steve Vladeck, a University of Texas law professor who has argued cases in court. supreme.
A decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization is expected by summer 2022.
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