The Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments on December 1 in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a case that pro-life advocates hope will overturn — or diminish the effects — of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 case that legalized abortion throughout the nation. In anticipation of the oral arguments, thousands of pro-lifers have gathered in Washington, D.C., to show support for the Mississippi law at the center of the case, which restricts abortion to 15 weeks gestation (13 weeks post-fertilization).
The pro-life organization Created Equal is partnering with other pro-life groups, including Students for Life of America, Pro-Life Action League, and Live Action, to proclaim December 1 as a National Day of Action for tens of thousands of pro-life activists at federal courthouses through the U.S.
In Washington, D.C., multiple events were scheduled for November 30, including a protest at Planned Parenthood and a prayer vigil outside the Supreme Court building. A rally — Empower Women, Promote Life — will begin at 8 am EST on the morning of December 1 outside the Supreme Court, with Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch addressing the crowd. In addition to AG Fitch, Live Action’s News Correspondent Christina Bennett, along with several other pro-life leaders, will speak at the rally, which is scheduled to run until oral arguments conclude. Both the rally and the oral arguments will be available to watch live.
Watch the rally livestream here, and listen to oral arguments here beginning at 10 am EST. Live Action’s Facebook feed livestream can be seen here.
“Over 60 million American children have been killed by the abortion industry since Roe v Wade restricted the ability of states to protect innocent human lives in their communities almost fifty years ago,” said Live Action President and Founder Lila Rose. “The Court must rectify their grotesque 20th-century error and overturn the unjust and illogical precedent of Roe. I am hopeful the Justices will see reason and will allow us to once more protect life.”
Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization centers around the Mississippi “Gestational Age Act” which restricts abortion to the first 15 weeks of pregnancy for two stated reasons:
- The fact that abortion’s physical risks to women increase as the gestational age of her preborn child increases (Read more about that here.)
- The brutality of the most commonly used abortion procedure in the second trimester — the D&E abortion — involves dismembering the preborn child.
Fully human from the moment of fertilization, at 14 weeks (16 weeks gestation/LMP), a preborn child can play in the womb. Her nose and lips are fully formed and she is capable of making complex facial expressions. Touching her mouth will cause her to turn towards the stimuli, and research suggests she has been capable of feeling pain for weeks. By 15 weeks post-fertilization (17 weeks LMP), her teeth are beginning to grow, and an ultrasound can detect speaking movements in her voice box.
But the life of every human being begins at fertilization, and each child is fully a human being from that moment onward. The majority of Americans do want abortion restricted to the first trimester, which is what Mississippi’s law intends to do. However, Americans also need to know that first trimester development is incredibly complex. The preborn child has a beating heart by 16-22 days after conception, detectable brain waves by six weeks after fertilization — and as Cleveland Clinic notes, all of the child’s organs are fully formed by the end of the first trimester.
Roe v. Wade made abortion legal throughout every U.S. state, prohibiting states from restricting abortion before the arbitrary point of “viability,” which abortionists have admitted is ever-changing based on their personal opinions, but is believed to fall around week 24 (LMP) of pregnancy.
Babies born as young as 21 weeks (19 weeks post-fertilization) have survived outside the womb. The question the Supreme Court will likely answer in this case is, “Under the Constitution, may a State prohibit elective abortions before viability?”
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