Mississippi asks US Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade

Updated 7:49 PM ET, Thu July 22, 2021

Mississippi's attorney general told the Supreme Court on Thursday that Roe v. Wade was "egregiously wrong" and should be overturned as she urged the justices to allow a controversial law that bars most abortions after 15 weeks to go into effect.

"The conclusion that abortion is a constitutional right has no basis in text, structure, history, or tradition" state Attorney General Lynn Fitch told the justices in a new brief, launching the opening salvo in the most important abortion-related dispute the court has heard in decades.

Fitch said the case for overruling Roe is "overwhelming."

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The case reignites the debate surrounding abortion ...

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Oral arguments will likely be heard in the late fall or early winter ...

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Mississippi's Gestational Age Act, passed in 2018 but blocked by two federal courts, allows abortion after 15 weeks "only in medical emergencies or for severe fetal abnormality" and has no exception for rape or incest. ...

Fitch said the law "rationally furthers valid interests in protecting unborn life, women's health, and the medical profession's integrity," adding, "It is therefore constitutional."

A district court blocked the law ...

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Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves, a Republican, has said the law is a "vehicle" for the high court to revisit Roe v. Wade.

"The question is not are you going to overturn Roe v. Wade, the question is: The science has changed and therefore it makes sense for the court to review their decisions from the past and this is a vehicle in which for them to do it," Reeves told CNN's Jake Tapper ...

Fitch suggested that the court no longer look to viability as a line dividing when a state can regulate the procedure. ...

"Scientific advances show that an unborn child has taken on the human form and features months before viability," she said ... and added that "states should be able to act on these developments."

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