Saturday, January 22nd, is the 49th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in all 50 states. While the precedent set in that landmark case never actually guaranteed full reproductive freedom for all, it has provided crucial federal protections for abortion access in the U.S. for nearly half a century.

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court, an institution that has upheld the basic right to legally access abortion in this country for almost 50 years, will hear oral arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. At the heart of this case – the most consequential abortion rights case since 1973’s Roe v Wade and 1992’s Casey v. Planned Parenthood – is a Mississippi anti-abortion law that bans almost all abortion after 15 weeks.

Abortion is a common and normal part of the range of reproductive healthcare services that people have been using for centuries, and the people who access that care are our family members, friends, neighbors, colleagues, and co-workers. The recent passage of the Texas anti-abortion law SB 8, like all restrictions, will not stop people from seeking abortions... ...

Though we are only halfway through 2021, this has already been the most catastrophic year for reproductive freedom in the United States since 1973 when Roe v. Wade established the constitutional right to an abortion. Eight states have passed unconstitutional abortion bans, and two, Oklahoma and Arkansas, have passed laws that seek to prohibit abortion in nearly all circumstances.

As we begin the third contest over a Supreme Court appointment since 2016, it’s apparent to more Americans that unelected lifetime appointments to our highest court represent more than just partisan insider political battles. The decisions made at the U.S. Supreme Court can and do impact our everyday lives, and in a democracy we should have a say in these appointments.

On Wednesday of this week, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear its first abortion rights case since the Trump administration and a sharply divided U.S. Senate combined to empanel the high court's first solid anti-abortion majority in the modern era. The confirmation of the hyper-partisan and ultraconservative Brett Kavanaugh to the Court in October 2018 appears to have provided the fifth vote anti-abortion interests have been looking for – one that could potentially overturn 1973’s Roe v. Wade decision and roll back the reproductive freedom that has been guaranteed to at least two generations of Americans.

As we commemorated the 46th anniversary of the historic Supreme Court decision Roe v Wade last year, our thoughts were on what may happen at the U.S. Supreme Court. Two thousand nineteen was the first full year of a high court firmly stacked with justices ideologically opposed to abortion, two of whom were appointed by a president who sees overturning Roe v Wade as a key to his re-election.

Soon after I began working at NARAL Pro-Choice North Carolina in 2016, I found myself explaining to someone our concerns about anti-abortion fake clinics (aka “crisis pregnancy centers”) and the tax dollars they were receiving. “How much are they getting?”

Many of us may remember the often very implausible notions we had of “where babies come from” when we were kids. And even as we learned more details when we got older, many of us still entered adulthood with only a partial understanding of the complexities of pregnancy, childbirth and sexual and reproductive health care.

As we commemorated the 45th anniversary of the historic Supreme Court decision Roe v Wade last year, we were contemplating what the second year under a misogynistic, virulently anti-abortion administration might bring.