Mark Joseph Stern covers the Supreme Court for Slate.

That means he pays a lot of attention to what's going on at statehouses around the country.

He's looking for areas of legal friction, legislation that could end up making its way to the nine justices in D.C.

This year, he's watched a quiet competition emerge between Republican lawmakers nationwide, a competition over abortion.

I would say it is a race between Republican-controlled legislatures to pass the most extreme abortion bans.

What do you mean when you say that?

Well, the states seem to be eager to outdo each other.

We first saw states passing bans at 20 weeks, and then 15 weeks, 12 weeks, 8 weeks, 6 weeks.

Eventually, Arkansas went all in.

Governor Asa Hutchinson instituted a ban on abortion from fertilization.

In all, the Guttmacher Institute says there have been 165 abortion bans introduced all around the country just this year.

Advocates have called it a shock and awe campaign.

But none of these bills can go into effect, given Roe versus Wade.

So what's the point?

So the point is, I think, twofold.

First, I think the point is to create a sense that there is this all-out assault on Roe,

and that the all-out assault indicates Roe's weakness or Roe's instability.

But I think the second point, which is related, is to actually send the Supreme Court a vehicle that will let the justices overturn Roe. They need a case. And I think

all of these states want to be the ones to send the Supreme Court that case that leads to the

reversal of Roe.

You've said the time you think is right for Roe v. Wade to be overturned.

Why do you say that?

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