AP Success - AP U.S. Gov & Pol: SCOTUS Comparison: Women’s Health: Roe v. Wade (1973)

In 2018, the Mississippi legislature banned most abortions after the 15th week of pregnancy. A Christian organization looking to overturn abortion at the federal level wrote much of the law. The only abortion clinic in Mississippi, Jackson Women’s Health Organization, sued the state health officer, Thomas E. Dobbs. The lawsuit made its way to the Supreme Court and became known as Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

In oral arguments in front of the Supreme Court, lawyers for Dobbs argued that scientific discoveries since the 1970s suggested that abortion after 15 weeks caused the unborn great physical suffering. The lawyer for Jackson Women’s Health Organization argued that the Court should not overturn decades of prior decisions protecting abortion in the United States.

The Supreme Court overturned nearly 50 years of precedent by ruling 6-3 that states could once again pass laws limiting or eliminating abortion access. However, the Court ruled that Congress could protect or expand abortion access through federal law.