(WASHINGTON, D.C.) — The U.S. Supreme Court, which leans conservative, has agreed to take up a major abortion case that has reproductive right activists concerned about the future of Roe v. Wade.
The case will be the first major test of former President Donald Trump’s three justices, whom he appointed during his four-year term.
The case — out of Mississippi — takes on a lower court decision that reversed a state ban on all abortions after 15 weeks, except in medically necessary cases.
Mississippi’s last standing abortion clinic decried the nation’s highest court for hearing the case, calling it a “strategy to eliminate abortion access entirely.”
Diane Derzis, the owner of Jackson Women’s Health Organization, said in a statement, “If this ban were to take effect, we would be forced to turn many of those patients away, and they would lose their right to abortion in this state. Mississippi politicians have created countless barriers for people trying to access abortion, intentionally pushing them later into pregnancy.”
The Supreme Court could determine if all pre-viability prohibitions on elective abortions are unconstitutional.
Nancy Northup, the president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, said the court siding with Mississippi’s law would be “devastating” because it “violates nearly 50 years of Supreme Court precedent and is a test case to overturn Roe v. Wade.”
On the other hand, pro-life activists are pleased and hope this signals the end of Roe v. Wade.
Jeanne Mancini, president of March for Life, said Monday, “States should be allowed to craft laws that are in line with both public opinion on this issue as well as basic human compassion, instead of the extreme policy that Roe imposed.”
Alabama; Arkansas; Georgia; Kentucky; Louisiana; Montana, Missouri; Ohio; Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee; and Utah previously tried enacting strict abortion laws, of which each ban was struck down.
The case is expected to be argued in the fall with a decision slated by June 2022.
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