
When lawyers for the state of Mississippi defended a state law banning abortion at 15 weeks of pregnancy before the US Supreme Court in 2020, they suggested that the court did not need to overturn Roe v Wade to do so.
One year later, the state’s argument hinged on the question of ending Roe, rejecting precedent that could end constitutional protections for abortion and trigger a wave of laws that make it illegal in more than half the country.