Mississippi asks US Supreme Court to end right to abortion

#DonaldTrump #Mississippi #RightToAbortion

Mississippi Attorney General wrote that decisions taken in the Roe v Wade case were wrong
Roe v Wade was a landmark judgement which legalised abortion in the US
The case will be heard during the court's next term which begins in October

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Updated: July 22 2021 02:40:57 PM ET Mississippi, USA

Mississippi has approached the Supreme Court seeking a reversal on the right to abortion in the United States. The state added the request in the legal brief of a case that is set to be heard later this year.

The case, involving a Mississippi law that bans most abortions in the state after 15 weeks of pregnancy, will be heard during the court’s next term which begins in October.

Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch wrote that some decisions taken by the Supreme Court, like in the Roe v Wade case, were egregiously wrong. Roe v Wade was a landmark judgement which legalised abortion in the United States.

“Abortion as a constitutional right has no basis in text, structure, history or tradition,” reads the document.

“If this court does not overrule” the cases legalizing abortion “it should at minimum hold that there is no pre-viability barrier to state prohibitions on abortion and uphold Mississippi’s law.”

The case reached the doors of the Supreme Court after two lower courts struck down the law calling it unconstitutional.

The law in question prohibits women from getting an abortion after the 15th week of pregnancy. The exceptions under this law are a medical emergency and severe fetal abnormality. The law does not make any exceptions for rape or incest.

Also read: Gov. Greg Abbott signs law banning abortion at six weeks in Texas

This will be the first abortion case considered by the nation’s highest court since former president Donald Trump cemented a conservative majority on the nine-member panel.

Trump’s appointment of three justices locked in a 6-to-3 conservative majority on the court and raised the possibility of overturning Roe v Wade.

The 1973 decision prohibits states from banning abortion before the time a fetus is viable outside the womb, which is considered to be around 24 weeks.

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In recent years, however, several Republican-led states have sought to impose restrictive laws on abortion, forcing many clinics to close their doors.