The U.S. Supreme Court is currently deciding whether to uphold a Mississippi law that seeks to reduce the abortion time limit to 15 weeks. Should it vote in favour of Mississippi, allowing the state to prohibit abortion before babies are said to be viable, the decision would undermine and possibly overturn Roe vs. Wade, the infamous 1973 ruling that legalised abortion throughout the United States.
Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization is currently being heard at the Supreme Court, the highest court in the United States, in Washington, D.C.
Nine Supreme Court justices will decide whether to permit the state of Mississippi’s Gestational Age Act that wants to limit abortion to the first 15 weeks of pregnancy.
Currently, U.S. states may not outlaw abortion or place limits that restrict the killing of babies before the timeframe when babies are said to be viable outside of the womb, said to be around 24 weeks – although babies born at 22 weeks have been known to survive, as reported by SPUC.
This week it emerged that six justices are leaning towards siding with the state of Mississippi’s case.
Should the Supreme Court vote in favour of upholding the Gestational Age Act, its 1973 decision regarding Roe vs. Wade, which legalised abortion, might be overturned, allowing states to set their own limits or ban abortion outright.
As of today, 12 U.S. states have already legislated for the immediate banning of abortion, should Roe vs. Wade be overturned by the Supreme Court.
Justices to decide the fate of millions
Former Vice President Mike Pence said: “I’m very hopeful and I do believe that Roe v. Wade will be overturned whether it’s now or in the future.”
When Pence was vice president, President Trump successfully installed Justices Neil Gorsuch, Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh, all three of whom are said to have pro-life sympathies.
On Wednesday, six justices appeared to indicate that they would uphold Mississippi’s restriction on abortion – including Justices Kavanaugh and Gorsuch, who implied that states should make their own decisions regarding abortion restrictions.
As the Court heard the case, pro-life and pro-abortion advocates gathered in Washington, D.C. to voice their support both for and against Mississippi’s case.
It is estimated that over 60 million babies have been aborted in the United States since the 1973 Supreme Court ruling.
Ongoing battle to save unborn lives
SPUC’s Michael Robinson, Executive Director (Public Affairs & Legal Services), said: “This is an important but complex case for pro-lifers, especially in the United States, where the battle to save unborn babies has intensified in recent years – including the implementation of Texas’s foetal ‘heartbeat’ law, as reported by SPUC.
“While SPUC and many pro-lifers agree that life begins at conception – and thus, that abortion is not acceptable at any stage during pregnancy – a decision to revoke Roe vs. Wade would nevertheless save millions of lives, allowing individual states the right to decide their own abortion laws.
“While a pro-life decision in the Supreme Court would be a victory for the unborn, it would not recognise the fundamental right to life of the unborn. The battle would still be ongoing.
“Should we see a pro-life decision in favour of Mississippi’s case, however, this would provide pro-lifers in the United States and elsewhere with a significant boost, a legacy of the pro-life Trump era, it may be argued, which, for all its faults, might have made all the difference in the Supreme Court.
“A decision is expected in June. SPUC follows this case with much interest, as well as with great hope for the future, a future that should belong to the unborn.”