abortion rights

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.

Marchers in several North Carolina cities displayed support for abortion rights on Saturday in hopes of drawing attention to recent legal threats to the 1973 landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion, Roe vs. Wade. The Women’s March that drew hundreds to Bicentennial Plaza in Raleigh also brought thousands more to cities and towns around the country, including Charlotte, Washington, D.C., New York, and Chicago.