<i>Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization</i> (2022): consequences one year on

Abstract

In 2018, the State of Mississippi passed a law prohibiting most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Planned Parenthood v Casey meant that laws which had ‘the purpose or effect of placing a substantial obstacle in the path of a woman seeking an abortion of a nonviable fetus’ were an ‘undue burden’, and a violation of the constitutional right to access abortion,1 first recognized in Roe v Wade.2 The constitutionality of the Mississippi law was challenged by the Jackson Women’s Health Organization (JWHO) on the basis that a prohibition on most abortions prior to 15 weeks of pregnancy is not merely a substantial obstacle or undue burden, but rather an insurmountable obstacle or burden.3 Mississippi argued that Roe and Casey should be overruled and that the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) lacked any constitutional basis for creating a constitutional right to an abortion.4 On 24 June 2022, the SCOTUS upheld the Mississippi law as constitutional in a 6–3 decision, and a majority of 5–4 held that the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion (overruling Roe and Casey).5 We examine Dobbs with the benefit of a year having elapsed and offer commentary on the emerging and under-considered consequences of the judgment.

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