The U.S. Supreme Court today announced it would take up a Mississippi anti-abortion law in a case that could dramatically roll back current court precedent. From NPR:
The court said Monday it would review next term whether all state laws that ban pre-viability abortions are unconstitutional. The court’s 1973 ruling in Roe v. Wade declared that a woman has a constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy in the first six months, when the fetus is incapable of surviving outside the womb.
The test case is from Mississippi, which bans most abortions after 15 weeks, significantly before fetal viability. The lower courts blocked enforcement of the law, finding it in conflict with Roe v. Wade and subsequent abortion decisions.
It is a long way from 15 weeks to zero weeks, as the Arkansas legislature and governor recently approved in the form of a total abortion ban, but it will give hope to those attempting to strip medical rights from women through a variety of other laws limiting abortion.