Supreme Court Could Redefine When a Fetus Becomes a Person, Upholding Abortion Limits While Preserving the Privacy Right Under Roe v. Wade

On Wednesday, Dec. 1, the Supreme Court will hear a case many believe will force the conservative justices—who now command a majority of the Court—to decide if they will strike down Roe v. Wade or uphold the long-standing precedent.

There is a third path the justices could take. The Court may focus its ruling on a more neglected aspect of the ruling in Roe—the Court’s understanding of the facts of fetal personhood.

Wide Majority of Americans Approve of Roe v. Wade and Disapprove of New Texas Abortion Law

Sixty percent of Americans believe the Supreme Court should uphold its 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade, which established the constitutional right to abortion. Just 27 percent believe it should be overturned.

In the run-up to oral arguments on Dec. 1 in the Supreme Court case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade, a Gallup poll shows Supreme Court approval at 40 percent—the lowest number recorded since the poll first started tracking this question in August of 2000.

Before Roe v. Wade, the “Janes” Gave Desperate Women a Safer Choice (Fall 2018)

There’s a reason most people don’t know about the underground network of nonmedical women in New York City who are volunteering their homes to help women living in states where access to abortion is severely restricted.

It’s the same reason most people living didn’t know about Jane, a group women who in the years before Roe v. Wade used code names and street-corner pickups to arrange as many as 11,000 abortions.

The Weekly Pulse: Roe v. Wade at Risk; U.S. Hits Vaccine Milestone, While Low-Income Countries Struggle to Meet Demands

For The Weekly Pulse, we scour the most trusted journalistic sources—and, of course, our Twitter feeds—to bring you this week’s most important news stories related to health and wellness.

In this edition: Texas passes a new anti-abortion law with a chilling twist; abortion rights advocates prepare for the worst as the Supreme Court takes on Mississippi abortion case; the U.S. reaches new milestone as low-income countries struggle to meet vaccine demands; and Chiquita Brooks-LaSure becomes the first Black woman to lead the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services.