The U.S. Supreme Court is thinking about whether it should or shouldn’t roll back some rules under Roe. V. Wade, which gives women the right to an abortion if they choose.
The government is listening to arguments about what women should and shouldn’t be able to do with their bodies in terms of keeping unwanted pregnancies as this past Wednesday, the law was discussed during Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case.
Mississippi’s abortion law bans abortion after 15 weeks. The constitution gives women the right to an abortion in the first two trimesters of pregnancy, which is roughly between 22 and 24 weeks. However, Mississippi reportedly wants the Supreme Court to reverse its prior abortion decisions and leave the decision to allow abortions up to the states.
“They say the Constitution doesn’t give us the authority, we should leave it to the states and we should be scrupulously neutral,” said Brett Kavanaugh, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
“Why would 15 weeks be an inappropriate line? Viability, it seems to me, doesn’t have anything to do with choice, but if it really is an issue about choice, why is 15 weeks not enough time?” questioned Chief Justice John Roberts.
Julie Rikelman, who represents the abortion clinic in the case, responded: “If the court were to move the line substantially backwards and 15 weeks is 9 weeks before viability, your honor, it may need to reconsider the rules around regulations because if it’s cutting the time period to obtain an abortion roughly in half, then those barriers are going to be much more important.”
