In the past few months, access to abortion has become even more of a flashpoint issue in an increasingly divided United States of America.
And now, the country’s Supreme Court has begun considering what’s being seen as the most pivotal abortion case in a generation.
On Wednesday, making most abortions illegal after the first 15 weeks of pregnancy - including those caused by incest or rape.
The 6-3 conservative-majority Supreme Court - which includes three staunch anti-abortion justices appointed by Donald Trump – appeared to signal it would uphold the Mississippi law, and potentially overturn a constitutional protection that's been in place since the 1970s.
Here’s what you need to know about what’s happening, and what it could mean for abortion access in the US.
What’s going on?
The Supreme Court is now hearing by the Jackson Women's Health Organization, the state’s sole registered abortion provider.
Lawyers representing the Republican-governed Mississippi have also asked the Court to overturn its landmark Roe v. Wade ruling that granted women a constitutional right to abortion in the US.
If the Court upholds the Mississippi law, and either overturns or guts part of Roe v. Wade, it would essentially return the issue to the states.
And should that happen, dozens are expected to make almost all abortions unlawful, cutting access to the procedure for tens of millions of women.
“If the [Mississippi] case is upheld and Roe v. Wade is overturned, it will have incredibly significant and swift consequences for abortion access,” said Prudence Flowers, a senior lecturer in US history at Adelaide's Flinders University.
Laws restricting abortion have been recently passed in other Republican-led states but struck down and forced in front of various courts.
Last month, the Supreme Court also heard arguments over a controversial Texas law - which some critics have described as "evil, sinister genius" due to its complicated structure - that banned abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.
However, the dispute over that law revolves around whether it can be challenged in federal court, rather than the right to an abortion.
What is Roe v. Wade?
Roe v. Wade is the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision that established that access to abortion is a constitutional right until the foetus is viable outside the womb, typically 22 to 24 weeks.
'Jane Roe' was an unmarried pregnant woman who filed a suit challenging abortion laws in Texas. Henry Wade was the defending district attorney.
The 7-2 ruling by the all-male bench represented “a really significant change in thinking about abortion”, Dr Flowers said.
“There had been about a decade of legal, social and medical activism seeking abortion law reform and abortion law repeal. But still, in most states, there was not a kind of right to abortion access,” she said.
“So this was a really dramatic ruling.”
Nearly two decades later, in 1992, the Court refined Roe and said states cannot impose an "undue burden" on a woman's ability to get an abortion in a case known as Planned Parenthood v. Casey.
US Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Donald Trump's third nominee for the Court Source: AAP
A segment of the population, particularly on the religious right, has never accepted the Roe v. Wade ruling and campaigned to have it overturned ever since.
“Aside from civil rights and racial justice, I would say that abortion is the most significant social issue in the country,” said Bruce Wolpe, a senior fellow at the University of Sydney’s United States Study Centre and a former US Democratic congressional staffer.
“Ever since the ruling, through to today, it’s been one of the most pressing issues for voters.”
But a pivotal reason why Roe v. Wade is facing a serious challenge now is because of the current makeup of the Supreme Court.
The death of liberal justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg last year and the appointment of Trump nominee Amy Coney Barret has made the bench that much more conservative, Dr Flowers said.
“Trump boasted with his three nominations that he was nominating pro-life jurists who would overturn Roe. He was very explicit about why he was picking people,” she said.
“Republicans campaign on the fact that they will overturn Roe, so it's important to understand that whatever happens next, this is a political rather than a legal decision that they are making.”
What have people said this week?
Supporters of both sides of the issue protested in front of the Court in Washington DC on Wednesday.
Inside, Julie Rikelman, the attorney for Jackson Women's Health Organization, said Mississippi's law was “flatly unconstitutional under decades of precedent”.
“Mississippi asks the court to dismantle this precedent and allow states to force women to remain pregnant and give birth against their will," she said.
Mississippi solicitor general Scott Stewart said "Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey haunt our country”.
Anti-abortion demonstrators gather outside the US Supreme Court on Wednesday. Source: FR159526/AP
“They have no basis in the Constitution. They have no home in our history or traditions,” he said in his opening remarks.
President Joe Biden also weighed in on the matter on Wednesday, saying he supports Roe v. Wade.
“I think it's a rational position to take, and I continue to support it," he told reporters.
How common are abortions in the US?
According to the US Centers for Disease Control, there were about 630,000 reported abortions in the US in 2019 - an 18 per cent decrease compared to the start of the decade.
And in figures consistent with previous years, women in their twenties accounted for the majority of abortions (56.9 per cent).
Abortions have been accessed at higher rates by people of colour, according to the , a reproductive rights group.
Black Americans and those of Hispanic background received the procedure at the higher rates (27 and 18 per 1,000 women aged 15-44 respectively) between 2000 and 2014, compared to white Americans (10 per 1,000 women) the Institute says.
A survey by the group also found three-quarters of people receiving abortions in 2014 were either low-income or living below the poverty line.
Opinion polls have consistently found most Americans believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases.
What’s likely to happen next?
The Supreme Court's final ruling is due in June 2022, and the justices will deliberate over the coming months before writing a final opinion.
It’s unclear exactly when that will come.
But Mr Wolpe said what was clear from how the justices reacted on Wednesday was that “there is a clear majority to at the least affirm the Mississippi law and at most to completely overturn Roe”.
“It looks like that after 50 years of being on the books, a constitutional right to abortion will be severely limited if not eliminated,” he said.
He said when the decision does come, “it's going to be the most explosive in decades” and be crucial to how people vote at the midterm elections next year.
“There will be an immense political reaction all over the place, and that reaction will carry over into the midterm elections for Congress in November,” he said.
“Voters who are who are concerned are going to vote out in force at the polls …. you're going to have a war over abortion at the ballot box.”
Dr Flowers said exactly what happens next “depends on whether the justices explicitly overturn Roe v. Wade or do away with parts of it” and on what grounds they do so.
Reproductive rights advocates say women who want an abortion will continue to seek them out even if access is restricted, and face the choice of having a potentially dangerous illegal procedure, travelling to another state where it remains accessible or buying drugs online.
“What's going to happen then, is that abortion becomes essentially something that is easily accessible for rich people, and criminalised and sometimes dangerous for people who are not,” Dr Flowers said.
“What most commentators say is that when you ban abortion, you don't end abortion, you just end legal abortion - and that is what will happen if Roe is overturned,” she said.
With AFP.
