Justices agree to hear major Mississippi abortion case

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35. Supreme Court to Review Anti-Choice Law Designed by Alliance Defending Freedom to Overturn Roe

Hat tip, Joe.My.God.

Supreme Court to Review Anti-Choice Law Designed by Alliance Defending Freedom to Overturn Roe

By Peter Montgomery | May 17, 2021 1:01 pm

The U.S. Supreme Court announced on Monday morning that it will hear Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which Vox legal analyst Ian Millhiser calls “a major threat to Roe v. Wade” and “the first abortion case to be fully briefed and argued before the Supreme Court since Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation last October.” The Court’s agreement to hear the case reflects the progress of the religious-right legal movement’s strategic plan to overturn the landmark decision affirming a constitutional right to abortion by enacting ever-more restrictive state abortion bans and getting them approved by federal courts that Donald Trump and Republican senators pushed aggressively to the right.

The law in question was passed by the Mississippi state legislature and is based on model legislation promoted by the religious-right legal group Alliance Defending Freedom as part of its plan to “eradicate” Roe v. Wade. “I am happy to say the first 15-week limitation based on our model language was just introduced in the state of Mississippi this week,” ADF Senior Counsel Denise Burke bragged at an Evangelicals for Life conference in 2018.

Right Wing Watch was the first to report on the Evangelicals for Life panel at which the ADF’s Burke described getting states, like Mississippi, to ban abortion at 15 weeks as the first step toward completely outlawing abortion. She added that “once we get these first-trimester limitations in place, we’re going to go for a complete ban on abortion except to save the life of the mother.”

Indeed, more restrictive abortion bans have been enacted by other states since then; Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has signaled his intention to sign a so-called “heartbeat” bill that passed the state legislature last week. If it becomes law, it would ban abortions as early as six weeks post-conception, which as the Texas Tribune noted last week is “before many women know they are pregnant.” The Texas legislation would require those who become pregnant after being raped to carry the rapist’s child to term. It also includes provisions allowing any citizen to sue doctors who perform abortions along with anyone who assists them.

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