The conservative majority on the Supreme Court seemed inclined on Wednesday to uphold Mississippi’s law that bans abortion beyond 15 weeks of pregnancy, and to go much further to repeal the abortion right that has been in place in the country for nearly half a century.
The fate of the landmark 1973 ruling in Roe v. Wade who legalized abortion across America and the 1992 Planned Parenthood vs. Casey, who ratified it, probably won’t be known before June.
But after nearly two hours of arguments, the six conservative justices, three of them appointed by former President Donald Trump, indicated that they would ratify the Mississippi law.
At the very least, such a ruling would weaken the precedents in the Roe and Casey cases, which allow states to regulate but not prohibit abortion before 24 weeks of pregnancy, when the fetus becomes viable.
And there is plenty of support among conservative justices to completely repeal the Roe and Casey rulings.
Trump-appointed Judge Brett Kavanaugh asked whether it would not be in the court’s interest to waive the debate and let the states decide.
“Why should the court arbitrate?” Asked Kavanaugh. “There will be different access in Mississippi and New York, Alabama and California.”
Abortion would become illegal or severely restricted in half the states if Roe and Casey were repealed, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research center that supports abortion rights. The legislatures of several Republican-ruled states are poised to act on the court’s ruling.
All three liberal justices said repeal of Roe and Casey would seriously affect the legitimacy of the court.
“Will this institution survive the stench this creates in the public perception that the Constitution and its interpretation are mere political acts?” Asked Judge Sonia Sotomayor.
Judge Elena Kagan said that the decision to abort is “an intrinsic part of the place of women in this country.”
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