Mississippi Case: Historic Abortion Rights Arguments at Stake in US Supreme Court

The Supreme Court of USA, leaning to the right on Donald Trump’s account, will hear a case this Wednesday that could set abortion rights back 50 years.

The high court will examine a law of Mississippi which prohibits most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

In a landmark decision with the case “Roe vs. Wade” In 1973, the court held that access to abortion is a woman’s constitutional right, repealing state laws that restricted the procedure.

In a 1992 ruling, in the case “Planned Parenthood v. Casey ”, the Supreme Court guaranteed the right to interrupt the pregnancy until the fetus is viable outside the uterus, something that occurs between 22 and 24 weeks of gestation.

However, those rulings did not end conservative and religious opposition to abortion, and anti-abortion activists believe their time has come to an end after years of political and legal battles.

“We recognize the magnitude of what we are asking for”wrote the attorney general of Mississippi, Lynn Fitch, in The Washington Post. He added that it is time to correct the “mistake” made by the Supreme Court in 1973.

“We hope and pray that this decision of the Supreme Court may be a historic turning point for the protection of the most vulnerable,” said the anti-abortion group “March for Life”.

The law of Mississippi of 2018 prohibits abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy and makes no exception for rape or incest. It was blocked as unconstitutional in lower courts until it ended up in the Supreme Court.

By simply agreeing to hear the case, the court indicates its willingness to review previous rulings, at least as far as “feasibility” is concerned.

Mississippi, conservative state of the biblical belt, demands that the high court go even further and annul the ruling “Roe vs. Wade ”.

“Nothing in the constitutional text, structure, history or tradition supports the right to abortion,” argued the state in a brief presented to the court.

“In disbelief”

Mississippi it has received backing from 18 other Republican-led states, hundreds of legislators, the Catholic Church and anti-abortion groups, some of which have put millions of dollars into ad campaigns.

The anti-abortion camp was boosted by the entry of three justices to the Supreme Court during the presidential term of Donald Trump (2017-2021), tipping the balance in favor of the conservative side with a 6-3 majority.

Two of Trump’s appointed judges replaced abortion rights advocates: Anthony Kennedy was replaced by Brett Kavanaugh and the late feminist Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Amy Coney Barrett, a devout Catholic.

The impact of the new magistrates became apparent on September 1 when the Supreme Court rejected a request to block a Texas law prohibiting abortion after six weeks of pregnancy.

Julie Rikelman, a lawyer with the Center for Reproductive Rights, who will defend the case in court, believes that if the judges uphold the law of Mississippi “It would be possible for states to ban abortion at virtually any time during pregnancy.”

“If the court upholds the ban … it is annulling Roe and Casey, even if the decision does not mention those words,” he warned.

Pro-abortion activists, medical associations, women’s rights and civil rights groups reported to the court along with hundreds of Democratic lawmakers and some 500 top athletes, including soccer star Megan Rapinoe.

“Forcing a woman to continue a pregnancy against her will is a profound intrusion on her autonomy, her physical integrity and her egalitarian position in society,” the Justice Department warned in a brief before the court.

The magistrates will have until June to make a decision.

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