U.S. Supreme Court Hears Landmark Abortion Rights Case

On December 1, 2021, Julie Rikelman, Senior Director of the Center’s U.S. Litigation Program, stood before the Supreme Court and argued for abortion rights in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a case challenging a Mississippi abortion ban. The case is the most consequential abortion case in generations and asks the justices to consider Roe’s core holding: the right of a woman to have an abortion up to the point of viability. The case was covered by dozens of sources, including the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, and CNN. 

Multiple sources, including NBC News, reported on Rikelman’s arguments, including her statement that “Mississippi’s ban on abortion, two months before viability, is flatly unconstitutional under decades of precedent.” Rikelman added that if the Court upheld Mississippi’s ban it would cause “profound damage to women’s liberty, equality, and the rule of law.” U.S. News also quoted Rikelman saying, “Allowing a state to take control of a woman’s body and force her to undergo the physical demands, risk and life-altering consequences of pregnancy is a fundamental deprivation of liberty.”

Reporting on the #AbortionIsEssential Rally outside the Court, the Associated Press reported how the crowd cheered when the Center’s president and CEO, Nancy Northup, said, “Four trips to the Supreme Court in six years is four trips too many. We are here to win.” 

Reuters quoted Shannon Brewer, the director of Jackson Women’s Health Organization and client of the Center, who also spoke at the rally, saying, “Guess what? When you make abortion illegal it does not stop abortion.” 

Learn more about Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. 

Media coverage of oral arguments:

• Associated Press: Outside Supreme Court, crowd amplifies abortion arguments  
• Associated Press: Abortion debate epicenter: Mississippi clinic stays open  
• The New York Times: The lawyer arguing against Mississippi’s law won a significant abortion case in 2020.  
• The New York Times: The Supreme Court seems poised to uphold Mississippi’s abortion law.  
• The New York Times: At the heart of the case, a small clinic in Jackson, Miss. 
• The Washington Post: 3 early takeaways from the Supreme Court arguments on abortion  
• CNN: Supreme Court’s conservatives lean towards limiting abortion rights after dramatic oral arguments on Mississippi law banning abortions after 15 weeks  
• The Los Angeles Times: Supreme Court justices sound ready to restrict the right to abortion  
• BBC News: US Supreme Court hears landmark abortion case  
• NBC News: Supreme Court signals willingness to uphold abortion limits in Mississippi case  
• ABC News: Supreme Court hears historic case on fate of abortion rights  
• CBS News: Supreme Court signals support for upholding Mississippi abortion ban  
• NPR: Roe v. Wade’s future is in doubt after historic arguments at Supreme Court  
• Bloomberg: Abortion Fireworks Flare as Justices Question Dumping Precedents  
• Bloomberg: Supreme Court Justices Wrestle With Past in Fiery Hearing on Abortion’s Future  
• Bloomberg Law: Supreme Court Justices Suggest Sweeping Pullback on Abortion  
• USA Today: Supreme Court signals support for Mississippi 15-week abortion ban with Roe v. Wade in balance  
• Forbes: Supreme Court Signals It Could Restrict Abortion In Landmark Mississippi Case  
• Reuters: Dueling rallies as U.S. Supreme Court confronts abortion rights case  
• Insider: Supreme Court appears open to upholding a 15-week Mississippi abortion ban in a major case that could gut Roe v. Wade  
• Roll Call: Supreme Court sounds ready to let states curb abortion access  
• The Independent: Supreme Court abortion case – latest: Sotomayor grills Mississippi on ‘stench’ of politics in landmark case  
• Dallas Morning News: Live coverage: Supreme Court revisits abortion rights and Roe vs. Wade in Mississippi case  
• Jezebel: Live Blog: Supreme Court Takes Up Abortion Case That Could Overturn Roe  
• The Week: The question that may determine the future of abortion rights  
• U.S. News: Roe at Risk as Supreme Court Weighs Mississippi Abortion Case  
• Common Dreams: Reproductive Rights Defenders Rally as SCOTUS Hears Challenge to Roe  
• The Chronicle (AU): America rolling back abortion rights despite Biden’s pleas  
• Newsweek: Mississippi’s Lone Abortion Clinic Doubling Hours to Treat Women from Texas, Louisiana  
• Newsweek: Chief Justice Roberts Seeks Path to Allow Mississippi Abortion Ban Without Overturning Roe  
• Reason: Where was Justice Kagan in Dobbs?  
• Spectrum News: Supreme Court hears landmark Mississippi abortion case challenging Roe v. Wade 
• WAPT Jackson: Mississippi abortion case: Live oral arguments before Supreme Court 
• Mississippi Public Broadcasting: Today Supreme Court hears oral arguments over state’s controversial 15-week abortion ban