Former state attorney general and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Doug Gansler predicted that the U.S. Supreme Court will likely weaken or possibly even eliminate federal abortion rights when it renders a decision in a high-profile case challenging the 1973 landmark Roe. v. Wade decision.

On Wednesday, the 6-3 conservative-leaning court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in a case brought by Mississippi. The first real challenge to Roe comes as numerous other states, including Texas and Oklahoma, have recently enacted laws that limit access to abortion.

But even if the high court reverses precedent and strikes down Roe, abortion is almost all but certain to remain legal in liberal-leaning states like Maryland.

“On December 1st, when the Supreme Court hears the Mississippi case, they are not hearing it because they want to rubber stamp Roe v. Wade. They are hearing it because they are either going to overturn Roe v. Wade or significantly scale it back,” Gansler told MarylandReporter.com in a recent interview.

“So who we elect as our next governor is going to have a major impact on women’s reproductive rights in Maryland because it will get kicked back to the states,” Gansler added.

But is Gansler correct? Is the high court likely to gut or scrap Roe entirely?

“I agree. It is not clear whether this will be a situation of ongoing death by a thousand cuts, reducing access to abortion incrementally until the right essentially disappears, or whether the Court will eliminate the right altogether,” Michele Gilman, a professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law, said. “Either way, the result will be harmful for women, particularly low-income women who struggle the most to effectuate their rights even under the current legal landscape.”

Read the full article on MarylandReporter.com.

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