Dear John,

As many of us spend this Thanksgiving holiday weekend surrounded by friends and family, perhaps enjoying a brief respite from work, we anxiously anticipate next Wednesday, Dec. 1 — the day the Supreme Court will hear arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a case that could determine the future of abortion access in the U.S.

If you’ve been following along with our coverage, you already know that the case involves a 2018 Mississippi law banning most abortions after 15 weeks. The law is a direct challenge to precedent established in Roe and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which says that states cannot ban abortion before fetal viability. In fact, the Mississippi law was struck down as unconstitutional by a federal district court and by the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in late 2019.

Now, Mississippi has appealed to the Supreme Court, asking the Court to overturn Roe. In reality, the Supreme Court has heard this case before, in a multitude of forms — for example, in last year’s June Medical Services, LLC v. Russo, which itself was essentially a duplicate of 2016’s Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt. And most recently in the two emergency challenges to Texas’s S.B. 8 abortion ban — which it heard last month.

“The Supreme Court has protected this right [to abortion] as part of the constitutional right to liberty for just about 50 years,” said Julie Rikelman, senior litigation director at the Center for Reproductive Rights and a lead attorney in Dobbs. “Not only has it protected the right, but it has already been asked to overrule Roe—it has already looked at every single argument Mississippi makes in this case for overruling Roe and it has rejected those arguments … as not good enough reasons. And yet Mississippi comes to them again with the very same arguments now.”
 
Yes, the same arguments—but now before a Court that has grown increasingly conservative, and with Amy Coney Barrett, a staunch opponent of abortion, having replaced feminist Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The stakes could not be higher. If the Court weakens or strikes down the right to abortion, abortion could be banned in nearly half the states in the country.
 
While all eyes are on the Court, we’re also making sure to bring you news of those who work every day to ensure women can access safe abortion care — the clinic staff and doctors. In this week’s episode of “On the Issues,” we take on a uniquely American form of terrorism — anti-abortion extremist violence directed at clinics across the country. Diane Derzis, owner of Jackson Women’s Health Organization (the clinic at the center of Dobbs) tells host Michele Goodwin how the clinic struggles to get law enforcement to respond to their calls. “When it comes down to it, no one really cares unless it’s your wife or your daughter or someone you love getting ready to walk in that door,” she adds. “And then, for that brief moment, you realize what other people go through.”
 
In this moment of great challenge and danger, we’re thankful for the courage of clinic workers and defenders, who in many locations literally risk their lives to protect the women and pregnant people who need abortions. We’re thankful for the legal advocates who go to bat for us again and again … and again.
 
We’re also thankful to you, for your continued support. Stay tuned for our coverage of the Dobbs hearing next week — we promise to keep you in the loop as the Court considers this latest and most dangerous challenge in this battle for our fundamental human rights.

Gratefully,

Kathy Spillar
Executive Editor