As a result of the Court’s decision in Roe, states have not been permitted to issue bans on abortion before viability.
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The Supreme Court has grappled with how to best balance a state’s legitimate interest in protecting the health of pregnant people, and the “potentiality of human life” with a person’s constitutional right to privacy, which includes the right to terminate a pregnancy. Wade decision established the constitutional right to abortion before the pregnancy is considered to be viable, that is, can survive outside of a pregnant person’s uterus. To understand this case, it is important to review the Supreme Court’s prior decisions, particularly those that have resulted in the Court ruling on how an individual’s constitutional right to abortion is balanced with a state’s right to protect unborn life. Background on Previous Court Decisions on Abortion None of these laws have been challenged. North Carolina’s law banning abortion after 20 weeks was challenged and struck down as unconstitutional by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. Sixteen states have laws banning abortion at 22 weeks in effect. Mississippi is not contending that 15 weeks gestation is a point in pregnancy when a fetus is viable outside the womb, but rather is asking the Supreme Court to either overturn the constitutional right to abortion or to allow states to ban some pre-viability abortions if it does not “burden a substantial number of women.” Although Roe v. Wade does not permit states to ban pre-viability abortions, some state laws that have pre-viability bans later in pregnancy have not been challenged in court. For example, in 2014 Mississippi passed a law banning abortions at 20 weeks LMP with an exception for medical emergency and a fatal fetal anomaly. This law has not been challenged and is currently in effect. Jackson Women’s Health, the only abortion provider in Mississippi, only provides abortions up to 16 weeks. The Supreme Court accepted this case to review “whether all pre-viability prohibitions on elective abortions are unconstitutional.” Wade, a point where the pregnancy cannot survive outside of the pregnant person’s uterus, typically understood to be between 24 and 28 weeks of pregnancy. On March 19, 2018, the same day the Governor signed the bill, and when it was set to take effect, Jackson Women’s Health, the only abortion provider in Mississippi, challenged the law in federal court. The US District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi and then the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals both struck the law down as unconstitutional. The State then appealed to the Supreme Court, which accepted the case for review this term.
In 2018, Mississippi enacted HB 1510, the Gestational Age Act, which bans all abortions after 15 weeks since the first day of the last menstrual period (LMP) except in medical emergencies and in cases of severe fetal abnormality, and without an exception for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest. Mississippi is asking the Court to allow states to ban abortions at a point much earlier than the current viability standard established by Roe v. Mississippi Law and Lower Court Decisions This issue brief provides background on the legal challenges to the Mississippi law in the context of the Supreme Court abortion precedents, addresses the intersections with the litigation that has arisen from S.B. 8, the Texas 6-week abortion ban, and explains the potential outcomes and how they could impact access to abortion around the country. While the Supreme Court has considered other abortion cases involving state regulations, this is the first case that the high court has taken in which a state is directly asking the Court to overturn the constitutional right to abortion. Jackson Women’s Health Organization , involves a Mississippi law banning all abortions over 15 weeks gestational age except in medical emergencies and in the case of severe fetal abnormality. In this case, Mississippi is asking the Court to overturn the long-standing precedent of Roe v. Dobbs, State Health Officer of the Mississippi Department of Health v. On December 1 st, the Supreme Court will hear the first abortion case since Justice Amy Coney Barrett was seated and cemented a solid 6-3 conservative majority on the bench. For the current status of abortion access in the United States and additional resources please see our abortion dashboard.Ībortion is among the most contentious issues in the country today. Casey and eliminating the federal standard regarding abortion access. On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Dobbs v, Jackson Women’s Health, overturning Roe v. Updated as of JThe Supreme Court Overturned Roe v.