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Constitutional Law Keyed to Choper
Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization
Citation:
597 U.S. 215 (2022)Facts
In 2018, Mississippi passed the Gestational Age Act, which prohibited abortions after 15 weeks of gestational age except in medical emergencies or cases of severe fetal abnormality. The law was challenged by Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the only licensed abortion provider in Mississippi. The District Court granted summary judgment to the clinic, permanently enjoining enforcement of the Act on the grounds that it violated the constitutional right to abortion established in Roe v. Wade and reaffirmed in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which prohibited states from banning abortion before viability (approximately 24 weeks). The Fifth Circuit affirmed, and Mississippi appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that the viability rule should be rejected and that the Act was constitutional because it satisfied rational basis review.
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