CV NEWS FEED // The Supreme Court announced Monday that it would hear a Mississippi case appealing for the right to ban abortions after 15 weeks. If the Court rules in the state’s favor, it would allow all states to enact abortion bans, drastically rolling back the effects of Roe v. Wade.
The Mississippi law, passed in 2018, bans abortions after 15 weeks. A federal court blocked the law soon after it went into effect.
If Mississippi wins the case at the Supreme Court, however, the ruling could provide the legal basis for other state bans, including so-called “heartbeat bills” to prohibit abortions after an unborn child’s heartbeat can be detected. Preborn babies’ heartbeats can be heard as early as six weeks, which is nine weeks sooner than the 15 week limit in the Mississippi law.
News of this Supreme Court case seven months after Justice Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed to the Supreme Court in October. Barrett was the third justice appointed to the Court by former President Trump.
The 6-3 conservative majority appears willing to allow abortion policy to return to the states, where it had been before the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973.
Politico characterized the Supreme Court decision to hear the case as a “direct challenge to Roe v. Wade.”
Abortion promoters and pro-life leaders seem to agree that, while the case is unlikely to directly overturn Roe v. Wade, it could deal a potentially devastating blow to the current abortion regime.
“The court cannot uphold this law without overturning the principal protections of Roe v. Wade,” said Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, according to the Associated Press.
“Goodbye and good riddance, Roe v Wade,” tweeted Lila Rose of the pro-life organization LiveAction.
The Supreme Court will hear the case in the fall, with a verdict likely next year.