Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization

U.S. Supreme Court Case

Case Status Closed
Filed on March 19, 2018

Last Updated December 11, 2025
Issue
- Abortion
Place
- Mississippi
- United States

U.S. Supreme Court takes away the constitutional right to abortion.

https://reproductiverights.org/cases/scotus-mississippi-abortion-ban-dobbs-jackson-womens-health/
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The U.S. Supreme Court issued its ruling in this case on June 24, 2022, taking away the constitutional right to abortion, abandoning almost 50 years of precedent, and paving the way for states to ban abortion.

In a devastating decision that will reverberate for generations, the U.S. Supreme Court has abandoned its duty to protect fundamental rights and overturned Roe v. Wade, ruling there is no constitutional right to abortion. Today’s decision—which abandons nearly 50 years of precedent—marks the first time in history that the Supreme Court has taken away a fundamental right.

Case Background

The Center for Reproductive Rights filed Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in March 2018 on behalf of Jackson Women’s Health Organization—the last remaining abortion clinic in Mississippi—to block the state’s unconstitutional ban on abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The state enacted this ban in direct defiance of Roe and the nearly 50 years of Supreme Court precedent affirming Roe’s core holding—that every pregnant person has the right to decide whether to continue their pregnancy prior to viability. The Center filed the case just hours after then-Governor Phil Bryant signed the ban into law. The original suit also challenged several additional abortion restrictions, which are not part of the case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

A federal district court granted emergency relief the next day, blocking enforcement of the ban—and in November 2018, struck down the 15-week ban because it violated decades of precedent holding that states lack the power to ban abortion before viability, concluding that “[t]he State chose to pass a law it knew was unconstitutional to endorse a decades long campaign, fueled by national interest groups, to ask the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade.”

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court’s decision in December 2019. Writing for the court, Judge Patrick Higginbotham said: “In an unbroken line dating to Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court’s abortion cases have established (and affirmed and reaffirmed) a woman’s right to choose an abortion before viability.”

The state of Mississippi filed a petition for certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court on June 15, 2020, which asked the Court to review the 15-week ban. On May 17, 2021, the Supreme Court announced it will hear Mississippi’s appeal of the Fifth Circuit decision throwing out the law. In this case, the Court has agreed to consider the question as to whether all pre-viability prohibitions on abortion are unconstitutional.

The case marks the first time the Supreme Court will consider a pre-viability abortion ban since the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973.

Learn More

Plaintiff(s): Jackson Women’s Health Organization and Sacheen Carr-Ellis, M.D., M.P.H, a board certified ob/gyn and medical director of Jackson’s Women’s Health Organization

Attorney(s): Hillary Schneller, Jenny Ma, Julie Rikelman, Alice Wang, and Shayna Medley at the U.S. Supreme Court; and Michelle Moriarty and Alexandra Thompson.

Co-Counsel/Cooperating Attorneys: The law firms Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison and O’Melveny and Myers, as well as the Mississippi Center for Justice are co-counsel at the Supreme Court.

A range of issues were discussed in this week’s oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization—the most consequential abortion rights case in generations. Julie Rikelman, Senior Litigation Director for the Center for Reproductive Rights, represented Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the only remaining abortion clinic in Mississippi, before the Court.

The case—which challenges Mississippi’s law banning abortion at 15 weeks of pregnancy—marks the first time the Supreme Court has agreed to consider the constitutionality of a pre-viability abortion ban since Roe v. Wade in 1973.

The nearly two-hour argument discussed the landmark rulings in Roe and Planned Parenthood v. Casey; stare decisis and the extremely narrow circumstances that would justify overriding decades of precedent; how generations have relied on the right to abortion; the importance of autonomy and bodily integrity to women’s lives; the impact of abortion bans; the safety of abortion and the risks of pregnancy; and the workability of the viability line, which has served as a bulwark against abortion bans for a half-century.

“Mississippi’s ban on abortion two months before viability is flatly unconstitutional under decades of precedent,” said Rikelman. “For a state to take control of a woman’s body and demand that she go through pregnancy and childbirth, with all the physical risks and life-altering consequences that brings, is a fundamental deprivation of her liberty.” Continue reading here.

Audio Replay and Transcript of Oral Arguments, 12.01.21
Listen to the audio replay.
Read the transcript.

Now that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade, Mississippi is enforcing its trigger ban, which prohibits abortion in nearly all situations.

On June 27, 2022, the Mississippi Attorney General certified the state’s trigger ban, which bans all abortions except to save the life of the pregnant person, or in cases of rape or incest that have been reported to law enforcement, following the U.S. Supreme Courts decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. After being challenged in court, the trigger ban is currently in effect.
Read more about Mississippi’s abortion laws, policies and court rulings here.

The Ruling

In a devastating decision that will reverberate for generations, the U.S. Supreme Court has abandoned its duty to protect fundamental rights and overturned Roe v. Wade, ruling there is no constitutional right to abortion. The ruling—issued June 24, 2022, abandons nearly 50 years of precedent and marks the first time in history that the Supreme Court has taken away a fundamental right.

“The Court’s opinion delivers a wrecking ball to the constitutional right to abortion, destroying the protections of Roe v. Wade, and utterly disregarding the one in four women in America who make the decision to end a pregnancy,” said Nancy Northup, President and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights in a statement. “While public support for access to abortion is at an all-time high, the Court has hit a new low by taking away – for the first time ever – a constitutionally guaranteed personal liberty.”

The decision came in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a case challenging Mississippi’s ban on abortion, brought by the Center for Reproductive Rights and its partners on behalf of Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the only remaining abortion clinic in the state. Mississippi appealed to the Supreme Court after the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a federal district court ruling that granted a permanent injunction against the ban.

With this ruling, the Court’s majority upholds the state’s ban and abandons the constitutional right to abortion. The decision not only allows Mississippi’s ban to take effect but paves the way for half the states across the country to try to ban abortion entirely in the days and weeks to come.

The Court’s decision will likely lead to half of U.S. states immediately taking action to ban abortion outright, forcing people to travel hundreds and thousands of miles to access abortion care or to carry pregnancies against their will, a grave violation of their human rights.

People will still need abortion care but the Supreme Court’s decision means millions across the country will no longer have access to it.

Under Roe’s core holding that prohibited states from banning abortion before viability, courts have blocked numerous attempts by states to ban abortion outright. By explicitly overturning Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court has removed the federal abortion protections that people have relied on for generations

This rush to ban abortion will lead to extreme chaos across the country as people, providers, clinics, and abortion funds struggle to deal with new and extreme preexisting bans—and clinics in surrounding states attempt to absorb a huge influx of patients.

The impacts of these bans will fall particularly hard on people who already face discriminatory obstacles when accessing health care, in particular people of color, those having difficulty making ends meet, members of the LGBTQ+ community, young people, people in rural communities, and undocumented people.

For 50 years, the Supreme Court has consistently and repeatedly affirmed that abortion is a right protected by the U.S. Constitution. Nothing has changed in these 50 years that justifies the sudden overturning of an established precedent that protects the right to abortion.

Today’s ruling is one in a recent run of Supreme Court decisions that have undermined rights, including the right to vote. It also raises grave concerns for the other constitutional rights interwoven in the Court’s Roe decision—including the right to make decisions about our intimate partners, how we raise our children, whom we marry, and whether to use contraception.

The Court’s decision is also out of step with the majority of Americans who support the right to abortion: More than two-thirds of voters (64%) believe the decision to have an abortion, including the reasons and situations for having an abortion, should not be regulated by law but left to the individual

This decision is a devastating setback, but the work is far from over. The Center will continue to advocate in all ways to advance stronger legal protections for abortion in the future. In addition to working to advance the Women’s Health Protection Act in the U.S. Congress, the Center will work to build stronger legal protections in state constitutions and state laws, and defend against further regression in the courts—working toward a future where every person has access to the abortion care they need.

Video: The Case Explained

Center attorneys explain the significance of the Jackson Women’s Health case.

The stakes have never been higher for U.S. abortion rights. In Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the state of Mississippi has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overrule Roe v. Wade and find there is no constitutional right to abortion.

Below are several videos that explain the case and what’s at stake.

Spotlight on the Center’s Client, Jackson Women’s Health Organization

Hear staff members of Mississippi’s last remaining abortion clinic discuss their efforts to provide care in the face of numerous obstacles as they await the Supreme Court’s ruling on the future of U.S. abortion rights.

The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to soon rule on the consequential abortion rights case challenging a Mississippi abortion ban enacted in direct defiance of Roe v. Wade. In the case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization—brought by the Center for Reproductive Rights and its partners—Mississippi has asked the Court to overturn Roe—and nearly 50 years of precedent—and rule there is no constitutional right to abortion.

The Center’s client in the case, Jackson Women’s Health Organization, is the only remaining abortion clinic in Mississippi—a state with more than 600,000 women of reproductive age and numerous laws that impede abortion access. Jackson Women’s Health Organization also serves people seeking care from other states, including Texas, which has banned abortion after six weeks of pregnancy.

In this brief video, staff members at Jackson Women’s Health Organization discuss working at the clinic and their challenges to provide care in a hostile state:

Timeline

March 19, 2018

The Governor of Mississippi signed a bill banning abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Within hours, the Center filed a complaint and a request for a temporary restraining order to block the ban

March 20, 2018

A federal district court granted emergency relief, blocking enforcement of the ban.

November 20, 2018

The district court ruled the ban unconstitutional and issued a permanent injunction, striking down the ban.

December 14, 2019

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit unanimously affirmed the lower court’s decision to strike down the 15-week ban.

June 15, 2020

Mississippi filed a cert petition with the U.S. Supreme Court.

May 17, 2021

U.S. Supreme Court announced it will hear Mississippi’s appeal.

September 13, 2021

Center’s reponse brief filed at the U.S. Supreme Court.

September 20, 2021

Over 50 amicus briefs are submitted to the Court supporting the Center’s case.

December 1, 2021

Oral arguments held.

June 24, 2022

U.S Supreme Court issues ruling, taking away the constitutional right to abortion.

Case documents

Amicus Briefs

A broad range of experts and those most impacted by abortion restrictions have filed amicus briefs (“friend of the court” briefs) urging the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. The case challenging the ban was brought by the Center for Reproductive Rights and its co-counsel and will be argued before the Court on December 1, 2021.

Briefs have been filed by leaders in constitutional law, health care, international human rights, reproductive justice, civil rights, sports and other areas; organizations representing communities most impacted by abortion restrictions; people who have had abortions; and those who have relied for decades on having the right to abortion