Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide, was based on the right to privacy. Lawrence v.
Texas, in which the court struck down all remaining antisodomy laws in 2003, likewise drew on the right to privacy. Obergefell v.
Hodges, the 2015 marriage equality decision, was grounded more in the guarantee of equal protection of the laws — something the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said Roe should have been based on.The state of Mississippi, in defending its law banning most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, has now asked the court to overturn Roe.
The court heard oral arguments in the case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, in December, and is expected to rule in the spring.