Mississippi Abortion Act Threatens Roe v. Wade

Camille Colpoys '23 ~ December 2021

The Supreme Court is currently debating a Mississippi abortion act in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. Attempting to ban all abortions after fifteen gestational weeks, the Gestational Age Act was enacted in 2018, but has yet to go into effect.

If passed, it will overrule Roe v. Wade , one of the most pivotal abortion cases in United States history. Passed in 1973, it established the constitutional right to abortions before fetal viability, in which a fetus can survive outside the uterus, occurring around twenty-three weeks. Under Roe, abortion death rates decreased drastically, as abortion legalization allows for safer practices. It remains a prominent argument for the pro-choice movement, which has faced some notable judicial opposition in 2021.

The Gestational Age Act follows a line of abortion cases this past year, including Senate Bill Eight. According to a LegiScan case summary, the bill, dubbed “The Texas Heartbeat Act,” argues the repeal of Texas statutes that criminalized abortion before Roe v. Wade. If passed by the Supreme Court, it would set restrictions on abortions as early as six weeks in the state of Texas. Notably, results of a study on pregnancy awareness trends show that most women are unaware of pregnancy until 5.5 weeks.

According to the Washington Post, the Supreme Court debated the Mississippi law on Dec. 1. While moderates claimed 15 weeks was not a drastic change from Roe’s 23-week viability, conservatives implied abolishing it altogether. In response, liberal members argued the importance of Roe as a fundamental individual right. Justice Sonia Sotomayer took the stand, questioning the court’s reputation if it were to overturn the Constitution based on mere changes in position.

“If people believe this is all politics, how will we survive?” Sotomayer said.

Though the court has reversed its decisions in the past, Julie Rikelman, representing Mississippi’s sole abortion clinic, The Center for Reproductive Rights, claimed the constitutional protection of liberty includes the right to physical autonomy. She went on to say that women need the present right to make decisions about their bodies as much as they did fifty years ago, with the “physical demands and risks” of carrying a child having an “impact on all of their lives.”

Pro-choice advocates, such as law professor Mary Ziegler in an interview with NPR, worry about the patriarchal, almost authoritarian aspects involved in controlled reproduction. She argues the overturning of Roe would not only jeopardize abortion rights, but those of contraception and birth control, as state legislatures could define them as “abortion-inducing drugs.”

Furthermore, the overturning of such a monumental United States law could set the stage for a push against other controversially established laws, such as those of same-sex marriage and LGBTQ rights.

As of now, Dobbs is not to be decided until 2022.

Title Photo: “Supreme Court rally” by Adam Fagen, Flickr, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0