Monday, the United States Supreme Court announced that they will hear arguments next term regarding Mississippi’s ban on abortions at 15 weeks. The Court announced that the question before it will be the constitutionality of all pre-viability abortion bans. This will be the biggest abortion case before the Court since 1992.
“While the numbers indicate a 6-3 conservative majority in favor of overturning Roe, we must fervently pray for the courage of Chief Justice Roberts and/or Justice Kavanagh to be the deciding vote(s),” said Will Brewer, Legal Counsel for Tennessee Right to Life. “If Roe is overturned, Tennessee will immediately prohibit all abortions thanks to the passage of the Human Life Protection Act in 2019,” said Brewer.
Dunn continued, "If Roe is overturned and abortion regulation is returned to the states, Tennessee is prepared. Tennesseans want to protect the women and children of our state and can do so if the court will overturn the tragic decision that led to the loss of more than 60 million lives to abortion in the United States. The people of Tennessee are ready for the Court do the right thing and overturn Roe - it is long overdue.”
Today, the Supreme Court of the United States agreed to review Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a Mississippi case that bans abortion in the state after 15 weeks of pregnancy. In doing so, the court gave itself the power to issue a decision that goes well beyond Mississippi’s 15-week ban. Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization is not a subtle threat to Roe v. Wade. It is, rather, a direct challenge to decades of legal precedent. In Roe and later decisions, the Supreme Court held that the Constitution forbids bans on abortion before the fetus has achieved viability. Since there is no doubt that, at 15 weeks, a fetus is not viable, Mississippi’s law was clearly designed as a vehicle to let SCOTUS reevaluate (and reverse) Roe. Mississippi currently has only one abortion clinic in operation, located in Jackson, and many patients travel to Tennessee to receive abortion care. The Supreme Court is expected to hear Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization this fall, with a decision to come during summer 2022.
Jennifer Pepper, CHOICES’ executive director, weighs in on the Supreme Court's decision to review the Mississippi case, “Lawmakers across the South, especially in Mississippi, Tennessee, and Arkansas, have been chipping away at abortion access for over a decade. If Roe was reversed, the consequences would be catastrophic, especially in the eleven states (including Mississippi and Tennessee) that currently have laws on the books that would instantaneously ban abortion. Millions of people’s reproductive freedoms are at risk.”
