Opposing sides of abortion fight prepare to navigate new landscape after Supreme Court decision

Washington — Nearly 50 years after the Supreme Court established a constitutional right to an abortion, the prospect of a ruling that allows more limits on the procedure has come into focus in the days since the justices weighed the constitutionality of a Mississippi law banning abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

A decision from the Supreme Court is not expected until summer 2022, but groups on both sides of the battle are already preparing to open a new front. During oral arguments that spanned nearly two hours, the conservative justices seemed open to upholding the Mississippi law at the center of the dispute, which would pave the way for states to enact more stringent abortion laws. 

The arguments in the case, known as Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, was the culmination of a decades-long campaign from anti-abortion rights advocates pushing for the 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade to be overturned. With the election of former President Donald Trump in 2016 and his appointment of three justices who expanded the court's conservative majority to 6-3, the goal of dismantling Roe became more attainable.