Hello and welcome to the 538 Politics Podcast.

I'm Galen Trick.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in one of the highest profile

cases of the term.

The question for the Court is whether Mississippi's law, betting most abortions after 15 weeks

of pregnancy, is constitutional.

So far, the law has been blocked from going into effect because of the legal precedent

from Roe v. Wade, which granted a constitutional right to having an abortion.

Subsequent decisions have meant that states may not ban abortion before fetal viability

at around 24 weeks, but that is being tested now.

The Court has no obligation to follow public opinion in deciding this case, although as

we've talked about on this podcast before, the Court's historically tended not to stray

too far from the public on high profile issues, perhaps for fear of losing legitimacy in

Americans' eyes.

When it comes to abortion, the conventional wisdom is that Americans' views are highly

polarized and deeply entrenched, but the reality is more complicated than that.

Most Americans don't fit neatly into a pro-life or pro-choice category.

So today, we're going to try to get to the bottom of what Americans believe and what they

want when it comes to this seemingly intractable question.

And here with me to discuss, is senior writer and legal reporter Amelia Thompson-Devil.

Welcome, Amelia.

Thanks, Galen.

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