Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization

In 1973, Roe v. Wade guaranteed the constitutional right to obtain an abortion until the point of fetal viability. In 1992, Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey held that states could not impose an undue burden on the right to obtain an abortion. In 2018, Mississippi enacted the Gestational Age Act, which generally prohibited abortion of fetuses with a gestational age of more than 15 weeks. In enacting the statute, the Mississippi legislature asserted a state interest in protecting unborn life. Mississippi abortion clinic Jackson Women’s Health Organization and one of its doctors (collectively, Jackson) (plaintiffs) brought an action in federal district court against state health officer Thomas Dobbs (defendant), arguing that the statute unconstitutionally limited the right to abortion. The district court granted summary judgment in Jackson’s favor and permanently enjoined the statute’s enforcement, holding that a state has a constitutionally adequate interest in banning nontherapeutic abortions only at the point of fetal viability, and 15 weeks was pre-viability. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed, and the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari. Mississippi and 25 other states asked the Court to overrule Roe and Casey and return regulation of abortion to the individual states. Jackson and the United States solicitor general asked the Court to reaffirm Roe and Casey and find the Mississippi statute unconstitutional.