On December 1, the Supreme Court listened to oral arguments in a Mississippi case that could start a trend to overturn the constitutional right to safe and legal abortions across the U.S. The case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, poses a real danger to Roe v Wade.
The Jackson Women’s Health Organization is the last abortion clinic in Mississippi. It has been open since 1995 and provides care to roughly 3,000 patients a year, the majority of which are minority women, poor women, and teenagers.
The legal battle is over a 2018 Mississippi law that seeks to ban abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. For over 40 years, Roe v. Wade has guaranteed the constitutional right to access safe and legal abortion until a fetus is viable, which is around 24 weeks. The Mississippi 15-week restriction will cut that time period in half.
The Mississippi law (called the Gestational Age Act), passed in the state in 2018 but was blocked by two federal courts. The disputed law allows abortion after 15 weeks “only in medical emergencies or for severe fetal abnormality” but has no exceptions for incest or rape. The law also states that doctors who break the law will have their medical licenses suspended or revoked, as well as be subject to additional penalties and fines.
During arguments, conservative justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, and Samuel Alito suggested that the current viability limit under Roe v. Wade is arbitrary, and can be altered. This notion could effectively overturn a 50-year high court precedent of defending abortion rights. Justice Brett Kavanaugh suggested letting the states decide. He is quoted as saying, “Why should this court be the arbiter rather than Congress, the state legislatures, state supreme courts, the people being able to resolve this?” he asked.
Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett stated that she might not be inclined to protect a woman’s right to an abortion, suggesting it’s not necessary because a woman can always give up a child up for adoption.
Sounds like forced pregnancy to me.
I am not surprised that the Supreme Court, with its solid six-member conservative majority, agreed to consider a state law that seeks to ban abortions after 15 weeks. The court, dominated by three of former President Donald Trump’s appointees, is likely to scale back a 50-year court precedent of protecting Roe v. Wade or may reverse it outright. The Mississippi case is not the only one. In another dispute, the Supreme Court is considering a Texas law that bans abortions after six weeks. The justices have allowed that law to remain in place for three months.
Liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor spent several minutes attacking the arguments of Mississippi’s solicitor general, arguing that a woman’s right to an abortion has been on the books for nearly 50 years, and federal courts have always upheld Roe v. Wade. She also pointed out that if the Court were to uphold the Mississippi 2018 law, it would be perceived by the public as a purely political move, and that the court would not survive such a “stench.”
If the Supreme Court rules that the states should decide (which I predict they will), then Roe v. Wade will be tossed onto the way-side. Not only would the right to safe abortions be in peril, but it could set a fatal precedent for democracy itself. Once Pandora’s Box is opened for states to regulate women’s bodies, how far will these states go to regulate voting rights, gay marriage, and transgender rights?
It’s no secret that the highest Court in the land has been politicized by the GOP: That has been their goal all along. Republicans never batted an eye about tweaking the Supreme Court’s composition, having molded an eight-member court during the nearly year-long blockade of Merrick Garland’s nomination in 2016. Of course, they were quick to confirm Trump’s third appointment, Barrett, in record time during an election year.
The Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment states that citizens have a fundamental “right to privacy,” and this has always been interpreted by the courts as a woman’s right to choose. If America cannot depend on the highest court in the land to uphold the constitution and human rights, then our democracy is in danger. Remember this the next time you go to the polls.