SCOTUS is about to hear a case that may be the endgame in the long war on abortion rights

This Supreme Court Case May Be The Final Battle In The Long War On Abortion Rights

Shannon Brewer has called the Jackson Women’s Health Organization in Mississippi a sort of second home since she began working there as a sterilization technician in 2001. Fast forward 20 years and Brewer is now the director of JWHO, the last abortion clinic in Mississippi, and she’s headed to the Supreme Court in Washington to take on the fight of her life.

In just two days, the high court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which centers on a 2018 Mississippi law that seeks to ban abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The law directly contradicts Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that protects the right to abortion. Roe made it a constitutional right to access safe and legal abortion until a fetus’ viability, which is around 24 weeks. The Mississippi law cuts that almost in half with a 15-week restriction.

Since JWHO is the only abortion clinic left in the Southern state, the law directly targets Brewer and her staff. And they have a heavy burden to bear. Not only will the case decide the fate of abortion rights in Mississippi, it will also determine if abortion access will remain legal across the country.

“I’ve been asked a lot of times if this is a scary thing that’s going on, just like all of the other cases we’ve done over the years,” Brewer said on a call with reporters earlier this month. “This case has worried me more than any other one, because I know this is going to be detrimental to women not only here in Mississippi, but in so many states. Because, believe me, if [the Supreme Court] decides to do it, most of the other Southern states are going to ban abortion immediately.”

The Supreme Court could strike down the Mississippi law, which would mean Roe remains the law of the land. Or the court could uphold the law ― whether banning abortion outright or tinkering with the gestational limit ― which would effectively overturn Roe and allow states to set their own standards. If that happens, it would trigger bans or constitutional amendments in several states that would immediately outlaw abortion.

The Supreme Court isn’t expected to decide the Mississippi case until June. If the state law is upheld, it will be the beginning of a nationwide battle in a post-Roe world. But for people in Mississippi, where abortion rights have been under attack for years and reproductive choice already badly restricted, it would be a final blow.

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