Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization

Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, 597 U.S. 215 (2022), is a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court.

Mississippi’s Gestational Age Act banned most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the state’s only abortion clinic, challenged the law as violating the constitutional right to abortion established in Roe v. Wade (1973) and Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992). The state argued that Roe and Casey were wrongly decided and should be overruled.

Significance

Justice Alito’s 5-4 opinion overruled Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, holding that the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion. The Court applied the history-and-tradition test from Washington v. Glucksberg (1997), finding that abortion was not deeply rooted in American history and tradition. The decision returned the regulation of abortion to the states. It marked the first time the Court had overruled a major constitutional right it had previously recognized, sparking widespread legal and political consequences across the country.

Category

US Federal Case Law