Mississippi recently put a law in place that stated women who were more than 15 weeks pregnant could not receive abortions. However, the long-standing Roe v. Wade case prevents abortions before the fetus is viable, which has been determined as 24 weeks into the pregnancy.
Oral arguments were just heard on the morning of December 1st to challenge the Mississippi case, but a decision will most likely not be decided and released until June of 2022. Right now, it looks as though the court is leaning towards upholding the law in Mississippi. Some of the justices have even made comments about completely overturning the Roe v. Wade decision.
The Mississippi law, enacted in 2018, was blocked by lower federal courts and would ban most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The only abortions after this time frame would be in medical emergencies or cases of severe fetal abnormality.
The attorney for the petitioner, Mississippi, came at Roe v. Wade very aggressively. They stated, "Roe versus Wade and Planned Parenthood versus Casey haunt our country. They have no basis in the Constitution. They have no home in our history or traditions. They've damaged the democratic process. They've poisoned the law. They've choked off compromise".
This was how the petitioners started, which got directly to the point and directly at the idea that Roe v. Wade should not have had the outcome that it did. They argued that there is no constitutional standing for allowing abortions. Their main point was that the power should lie with the states and not Congress or the Courts.
The respondents of this case, Jackson Women's Health Organization, argued that it should be a woman's right and that the law is how it should be now. They argue that the line should be drawn at the viability of the fetus, which is about 24 weeks into a pregnancy. They state it would be unconstitutional to overturn the precedent which has been standing for 50 years.
They bring up the point that in past abortion cases, the courts have carefully looked into and examined every possible reason to overturn Roe v. Wade and held "that a woman's right to end a pregnancy before viability was a rule of law and a component of liberty it could not renounce". Their main point was that it was unconstitutional and that this has already been looked at and examined along with being decided that there should not be an overturning of this case.
While the case originally brought to the Supreme Court is that of the Mississippi law and its constitutionality, it has led to questioning whether or not Roe v. Wade should even stand or should be overturned. There has been a huge public outcry because of this case. There is a divide between our country about whether or not abortion should be legal and at what point abortion should be outlawed. The outcome of this case will impact our country for years to come.
