Friday, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Dobbs, State Health Officer of the Mississippi Department of Health et al. versus Jackson Women’s Health Organization et al. This decision has led to the overturning of Roe v Wade, making the Mississippi Gestational Age Act a law.
The bill prohibits abortions after 15 weeks and provides penalties. It states “…it is the intent of the Legislature, through this act 88 and any regulations and policies promulgated hereunder, to 89 restrict the practice of nontherapeutic or elective abortion to 90 the period up to the fifteenth week of gestation…”
After the ruling was announced, many of Mississippi’s top elected officials rejoiced in the news.
Governor Tate Reeves said, in a statement, that the overturning of Roe v. Wade “…directly result in more hearts beating, more strollers pushed, more report cards given, more little league games played, and more lives well lived. It is a joyous day! Tomorrow, we will wake to a new world, enthusiastically prepared to take on the challenges ahead and to take every step necessary to support mothers and children.”
“Mississippi has led the nation to overcome one of the greatest injustices in the history of our country. Our state’s historic case before the United States Supreme Court was the catalyst for overturning Roe v. Wade and has made the nation safer for children than it was just a few short hours ago. Reeves went on to say: “We must remember that our work is not yet over. The pro-life movement must dedicate itself to ensuring mothers and their babies receive the support they both need during pregnancy and after. Despite what some may claim, Mississippi’s objective was never simply to win a court case – it’s been to create a culture of life across the country. Our state seeks to be pro-life in every sense of the word – supporting mothers and children through policies of compassion and working to ensure that every baby has a forever family that loves them. Mississippi will work relentlessly to accomplish these goals and will continue to build a culture that supports mothers and children, valuing the inherent dignity of every individual. This is our new pro-life agenda…. We stand on the shoulders of giants. This win has been achieved thanks to the tireless efforts of so many over decades. Thank you to the lawyers who argued this case for us, passionate citizens who pushed this issue for years, and those who prayed for this day for many decades. I urge my fellow Mississippians to rejoice today and keep praying as the work is not done. God bless!”
In a statement, Attorney General Lynn Fitch stated that Roe v. Wade is now behind the state and the state is now tasked with advocating laws that empower women.
“Today marks a new era in American history — and a great day for the American people. Roe v Wade is now behind us, consigned to the list of infamous cases that collapsed under the weight of their errors. This decision is a victory not only for women and children, but for the Court itself. I commend the Court for restoring constitutional principle and returning this important issue to the American people. Now, our work to empower women and promote life truly begins. The Court has let loose its hold on abortion policymaking and given it back to the people. The task now falls to us to advocate for the laws that empower women – laws that promote fairness in child support and enhance enforcement of it, laws for childcare and workplace policies that support families, and laws that improve foster care and adoption. We must renew our commitment to weaving a safety net that helps women in challenging circumstances and gives their children life and hope.”
Fitch goes on to say: “This is about more than the fundamentals of prenatal vitamins and diapers; it is about helping to connect them to opportunities for education and job training to support their families. And always, it is about love and respect for them through whatever struggles they face. This is what it means to both empower women and promote life. I am grateful to the Court for this opportunity and even more grateful to the millions of women and men across our nation who will lead us into this new post-Roe world. I have been proud to stand with you in the fight to get to this day and I will be proud to stand with you as we build a new framework for the life movement.”
In the Opinion from SCOTUS, the summary states,: ”The Constitution does not confer a right to abortion; Roe and Casey are overruled; and the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives.” Meaning, the states could now decide on abortion, making it unconstitutional for SCOTUS to do so.
Justice Samuel Alito wrote the opinion for the court, and Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote the dissent. In the opinion, Alito said: “Abortion presents a profound moral issue on which Americans hold sharply conflicting views. Some believe fervently that a human person comes into being at conception and that abortion ends an innocent life. Others feel just as strongly that any regulation of abortion invades a woman’s right to control her own body and prevents women from achieving full equality. Still others in a third group think that abortion should be allowed under some but not all circumstances, and those within this group hold a variety of views about the particular restrictions that should be imposed. For the first 185 years after the adoption of the Constitution, each State was permitted to address this issue in accordance with the views of its citizens..”
Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan wrote the dissention: “For half a century, Roe v. Wade, 410 U. S. 113 (1973), and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pa. v. Casey, 505 U. S. 833 (1992), have protected the liberty and equality of women. Roe held, and Casey reaffirmed, that the Constitution safeguards a woman’s right to decide for herself whether to bear a child. Roe held, and Casey reaffirmed, that in the first stages of pregnancy, the government could not make that choice for women. The government could not control a woman’s body or the course of a woman’s life: It could not determine what the woman’s future would be. See Casey, 505 U. S., at 853; Gonzales v. Carhart, 550 U. S. 124, 171–172 (2007) (Ginsburg, J., dissenting). Respecting a woman as an autonomous being, and granting her full equality, meant giving her substantial choice over this most personal and most consequential of all life decisions.”
In the concurring, Justice Clarence Thomas said the courts should also reconsider its decisions on contraceptives, same-sex marriages and privacy in the bedroom. "For that reason, in future cases, we should reconsider all of this Court's substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell," Thomas wrote.
