‘A Great Sense of Inspiration’: Anti-Abortion Activists Express Optimism

The Supreme Court on Monday said it would consider a case from Mississippi that would ban abortion after 15 weeks of gestation, a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade.

Anti-abortion activists across the country expressed optimism on Monday that they might be on the cusp of achieving a long-held goal of the movement: overturning Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that extended federal protections for abortion. The Supreme Court announced on Monday morning that it would consider in its next term a case from Mississippi that would ban abortion after 15 weeks of gestation, with narrow exceptions. The case is a direct challenge to the 1973 ruling, which prevents states from banning abortion before fetal viability — around 23 or 24 weeks of gestation. It is the first abortion case under the court’s new 6-3 conservative majority, and activists expressed hope that this case would be the one to remove federal protections for the procedure. Such a ruling would give the right to regulate abortions at any point in pregnancy back to the states, many of which in the South and Midwest have imposed tough restrictions.