A Supreme Court Case That Could Upend Roe v. Wade

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🗓️ 1 December 2021

⏱️ 13 minutes

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Summary

Getting an abortion in Mississippi has never been easy, but it hasn't been impossible. Now, a case before the Supreme Court that centers on a clinic in Mississippi could upend abortion rights for pregnant people across the country.

Today, the conservative-leaning court heard arguments in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. The clinic, which is the only abortion provider remaining in Mississippi, is challenging a 2018 state law that bans termination after 15 weeks of pregnancy. If the court upholds the law, it would reverse its own precedent by allowing states to interfere with the right to abortion at that stage of pregnancy.

NPR Chief Legal Affairs Correspondent Nina Totenberg, SCOTUS Blog's Tom Goldstein, and Florida State University Law Professor Mary Ziegler parse the arguments and weigh in on the possibilities on how the justices could rule.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Back in 2006, in my early days as a reporter, I was assigned to do a story on an abortion clinic in Mississippi.
0:07.0	Actually, it was the only abortion clinic in Mississippi. Still is. It's called Jackson Women's Health Organization.
0:14.0	The morning I'm ladies, how you best doing today?
0:17.0	I found my way into a room full of women contemplating abortion procedures.
0:22.0	And part of that process was for doctors to share information from a state mandated script.
0:28.0	This is the voice of Dr. Joseph Booker.
0:30.0	My name is Dr. Booker and it's one and we have to use some information at the state required us to give you.
0:35.0	Booker has since passed away, but at the time this was part of his job.
0:39.0	And for the women who were listening, it was one of many steps in the process of seeking to end a pregnancy.
0:46.0	The scene outside the clinic was another. People who lined up on the street outside trying to change their minds.
0:53.0	Jesus wants to help you this morning. Anything we can do to help, we're going to be here for you. We're trained for you.
0:58.0	The road to that street corner was longer for some. We would travel long distances from rural counties to get to the state capital.
1:05.0	Add to that the 24 hour waiting period that was required as well. And the roadblocks to terminating a pregnancy were significant.
1:13.0	At the time, I asked a consultant at the clinic Betty Thompson, how the patients described it.
1:18.0	I have to get somebody to get my children ready to go to school or I have to hire an extra sitter when I was staying home with my child.
1:26.0	Because I can't bring the child.
1:28.0	The list was long.
1:29.0	Get somebody to drive me. Then I've got to pay them. Then that may, I may have to look far and few between for somebody who's willing to come over here and fight through this maze outside to get me inside or to drop me out or to have their tag numbers taken down.
1:46.0	And this was 15 years ago. Getting an abortion in Mississippi has never been easy, but it hasn't been impossible.
1:55.0	Oye, oye, oye, oye, but that could change God saved the United States and this honorable court.
2:02.0	Today, the Supreme Court heard arguments in a case that is the biggest challenge to Roe v Wade in decades.
2:08.0	We will hear argument this morning in case 1913, 92 dobs versus Jackson women's health organization.
	...

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