by Elizabeth Nash and Lauren Cross at Guttmacher Institute
Updated on April 19, 2022:
This analysis has been updated to reflect Wyoming’s enactment of a “trigger” ban in March 2022 that moved the state from the category of likely to ban abortion to certain to ban abortion if Roe v. Wade is overturned. Updated information was added on 2022 Florida legislation and mention of North Carolina’s pre-Roe abortion ban.
First published on October 28, 2021:
On December 1, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a case on the constitutionality of Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban that will specifically address whether a state can ban abortion before viability (generally 24–26 weeks of pregnancy). The Supreme Court taking this case at all is a stunning development, but the state of Mississippi has gone even further and asked the Court to outright overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 case that affirmed a constitutional right to abortion.
It is far from a foregone conclusion that the Court will cast aside five decades of precedent to overturn Roe and allow states to ban abortion. However, by even accepting the case, the Court has signaled that it is willing to revisit the legality of abortion. Furthermore, the Court’s September 1 decision to decline to block an unconstitutional six-week abortion ban in Texas (S.B. 8) from going into effect may be an indicator of its intent…
Continue Reading