The state of Mississippi is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to end the constitutional right to an abortion in America, in a case with monumental stakes for the Gulf South and the nation.
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments Wednesday in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a suit stemming from a 15-week abortion ban passed in Mississippi in 2018.
The case will be streamed at 9 a.m. CT. You can listen below, and follow reporter Rosemary Westwood (@rosiewestwood) for on-the-ground coverage in Washington, D.C.
To watch the oral arguments from the SCOTUS stream, click here.
Listen to the audio stream from NPR below:
In briefings to the court, Mississippi’s Attorney General Lynn Fitch has asked the nine justices to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that stated the right to liberty under the 14th amendment includes the right for women to control their reproductive lives, including accessing abortion.
Lawyers for the last abortion clinic in Mississippi, Jackson Women’s Health Organization, said that any ruling to uphold Mississippi’s ban would gut the core holding of Roe v. Wade, one reiterated in later major abortion rulings, including 1992’s Planned Parenthood v. Casey: that the state cannot prevent a woman from having an abortion before a fetus is viable, usually around 23 or 24 weeks.
The case is critical for abortion access across the country, but it has particularly high stakes for Mississippi and Louisiana.
Months after Mississippi passed its 15-week ban in 2018, Louisiana passed a nearly identical ban, with one caveat: Louisiana’s law would only take effect if a federal appeals court upheld Mississippi’s.
