U.S. Supreme Court Case
Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization
In the most consequential abortion rights case in generations, the U.S. Supreme Court will consider a Mississippi abortion ban that directly challenges Roe v. Wade.
The Center for Reproductive Rights will return to the U.S. Supreme Court in December to defend the right to abortion, a right recognized in Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision. In the case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the Supreme Court will hear Mississippi’s appeal of a lower court ruling that struck down as unconstitutional the state’s law banning abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
“If the Court grants Mississippi’s request to overturn Roe, large swaths of the South and Midwest—where abortion is already hard to access—will eliminate abortion completely. More than two generations of Americans have lived their lives relying on access to legal abortion. The ability to make this decision is central to gender equality, and racial and economic justice. The stakes could not be higher.”
Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization marks the first time the Court will rule on the constitutionality of a pre-viability abortion ban since Roe. The Court’s ruling in Roe recognized that the decision whether to continue a pregnancy or have an abortion, which impacts a person’s body, health, family and future, belongs to the individual, not the government. The Center’s client in the case, Jackson Women’s Health Organization, is the last remaining abortion clinic left in the state.
Oral arguments: December 1, 2021 (A live audio feed of the arguments will be available on the Supreme Court’s website.)
Find out more about Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization:
The Women’s Health Protection Act
Federal legislation to protect abortion access from harmful bans and restrictions.
