Supreme Court weighs “Dobbs v. Jackson” abortion case

The U.S. Supreme Court opened Wednesday morning with oral arguments over a Mississippi law meant to protect babies from abortion after 15 weeks of gestation. If the court rules in favor of the existing law, it could undermine the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion across the United States. The Jackson Women’s Health Organization is the only licensed abortion center in Mississippi and continued to operate on Wednesday while Supreme Court arguments occurred in Washington, D.C. The court is expected to release its decision in June.

What were the highlights? U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar urged the high court to uphold pro-abortion legal precedent the court set in Roe and another abortion case, 1992’s Planned Parenthood v. Casey. But Mississippi Solicitor General Scott Stewart argued that the U.S. Constitution is neutral on abortion and the issue should be left to the people to decide through the legislative process. The director of the Center for Reproductive Rights and the U.S. solicitor general argued that abortion is a human right. The three liberal justices are expected to vote in favor of upholding the court’s pro-abortion precedent, which restricts legal protections of unborn babies before the point of viability. But Justice Samuel Alito said on Wednesday the standard of establishing when a baby is viable might not be an appropriate measure for the court to use: “The fetus has an interest in having a life, and that doesn’t change between before and after viability.”

Dig deeper: Read Kim Henderson’s report in WORLD Magazine on the two women responsible for bringing Mississippi’s abortion case to the Supreme Court.