Tuesday the Supreme Court started to hear oral arguments in the case that experts say is the most significant and real challenge to abortion rights in nearly 50 years.
The high court will hear the case against the Mississippi abortion ban which prohibits all abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy with very few exceptions.
The law was passed in Mississippi back in 2018 and a federal district court judge who initially heard this case struck down the Mississippi law saying it was unconstitutional. After that ruling a three judge panel at the very conservative 5th circuit court of appeals upheld that lower court ruling agreeing saying yes it was unconstitutional.
After the ruling the state of Mississippi appealed again that the Supreme Court and the justices decided to take the case up in the high court.
The precedent of the case established in the 1973 Roe V. wade case asserts that states can not restrict abortion before fetal viability typically around 24 weeks into pregnancy. In some cases it could be even longer in cases in which the patient’s life or health comes into question.
That issue of viability is at the heart of the Mississippi case that is playing into all of this. The current 6–3 conservative majority of the current Supreme Court.
This abortion case that the Supreme Court is hearing currently is not the first case supposed abortions the Supreme Court has taken up in this term. Just last month they heard the case against the Texan abortion ban.
In terms of the Supreme Court ruling on both of these cases we all will have wait for their rulings. The justices usually hear the cases now and will not issue rulings until the end of the term. That generally means sometime in June.
