For the first time since 1992, the end of Roe v. Wade is a real possibility. Back then, the Supreme Court defied widespread expectations by sticking with the 1973 ruling’s core holding that legislatures could not prohibit abortion. A lot of Republican politicians were relieved because they thought that a reversal by the court would have caused a political backlash. (They lost the next election anyway.)
The circumstances are different now, as a Supreme Court with six Republican-appointed justices takes up a case about Mississippi’s ban on abortion after 15 weeks. If the conservative justices think that Roe should go, they could hardly have found a more propitious time from the perspective of the pro-life movement. . . .