Supreme Court To Hear Major Mississippi Abortion Case On Dec. 1

“The stakes here are extraordinarily high,” Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, said when the Supreme Court agreed to take up the case in May. “If the court were to weaken the right to abortion, abortion would likely be banned banned entirely in half of the country, many places in the South and the Midwest.”

Because of the three additions to the court during the Trump presidency, opponents of abortion restrictions will have to make their case before a panel of justices who are predominantly conservative and hostile to the procedure. At the moment, the court only has three members firmly committed to upholding Roe v. Wade, but five would be needed to do so.

The same day the Supreme Court made its announcement, President Joe Biden ’s administration reaffirmed its support for abortion access and the Women’s Health Protection Act , which would create federal-level abortion protections.