Thread by @DeanMThomson

Having listened to the oral testimony from the US Supreme Court hearing Mississippi abortion law case…there are signs Roe vs Wade (1973 landmark ruling which secured women’s rights to abortions in USA) is about to fall.
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➡️Justice Brett Kavanaugh: “The Constitution is neither pro-life nor pro-choice ... and leaves the issue to the people to resolve in the democratic process,"
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He also asked “If we think that the prior precedents are seriously wrong”, does it not indicate “that the right answer is actually a return to the position of neutrality?”
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➡️Chief Justice Roberts: questioned why 15 weeks was"not enough time" for a woman to obtain abortion procedure
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➡️Justice Ms Coney-Barrett asked why placing babies up for adoption wasn’t an alternative to abortion
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➡️Justice Alito likened Roe to Plessy v. Ferguson, the 1896 case affirming the constitutionality of racial segregation, saying: “Would it not be sufficient to say that was an egregiously wrong decision on the day it was handed down and now it should be overruled?”
(6/9

➡️Justice Neil Gorsuch questioned whether it was even possible to craft a coherent, workable legal standard if court sought only to narrow constitutional protections for abortion incrementally. Thus indicating an overruling of Roe was only way to affirm the Mississippi ban.
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👉 If Roe goes, then it’ll be up to the US states to decide for themselves once again to set abortion laws.

If the lines of questioning from the conservative Supremes are anything to go by, Roe is in trouble.
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For restricted abortion bans before 23 weeks, this has become the ‘viability standard’.

The 6-3 conservative Supreme Court could decide to pair that back to 15 weeks, upholding the Mississippi law. Or they could use this as an opportunity to overturn Roe outright.
(9/9

12 US states have 'trigger laws' set to immediately ban abortions should Roe fall.

Others would likely quickly follow across America.