Should the Supreme Court overturn Roe Vs Wade which was enacted in the 1970s that legalized abortion nationally in this country? If the Supreme Court votes to overrule Roe, it wouldn't immediately make abortion illegal throughout the country. That would probably require five justices to decide that embryos and foetuses are "persons" entitled to constitutional protection. No justice – not even Scalia – has ever taken such an extreme view. Instead, the court would probably say that states are allowed to restrict abortion however they see fit on whether the woman's right to choose if and when to become a parent is not strong enough to overcome the state's interest in protecting foetuses. A centrepiece of President Donald Trump's campaign was a promise to do whatever he could to ensure that the 1973 Supreme Court's landmark decision in Roe v Wade that guaranteed a woman's right to an abortion would be overturned. His constant rallying cry of overturning Roe and elimination abortion rights has undoubtedly emboldened state legislators to take action that they might not have dared to take in the previous 46 years since Roe was decided in 1973. We have just witnessed Alabama pass a law that forbids abortions at any time in pregnancy unless it is required to save the life of the mother. Even if the pregnancy resulted from rape or incest, the pregnancy may not be terminated without risking criminal prosecution of any doctor who participated in the procedure. In 2018 alone, seven states have introduced or passed so-called "heartbeat bills" that ban abortion as early as six weeks of pregnancy. Experts are largely in agreement that if Roe v. Wade were to be substantially altered or overturned, it would not be through the Alabama case. It is instead more likely that the Court will make incremental changes to the law. While these cases likely won't impact Roe on a federal level, they could still pave the way for states to have more freedom in determining abortion law. The Court could overturn or weaken protections that are enshrined in Roe, which would give states leeway to restrict abortion access at the state level. A number of justices would then have to rule that the interpretation of the law as outlined in Roe was mistaken and therefore offer a new interpretation of the Constitution and issue a new opinion. A high-profile, landmark case like Roe v. Wade is so etched in the public consciousness, however, that it would take a lot for the Court to decide to overturn it entirely rather than make incremental changes. It could be years before we see any substantive changes to the law but remember—there's a difference between outlawing abortion and severely restricting it. References Garrow, D. J. (1998). Abortion before and after Roe v. Wade: An historical perspective. Alb. L. Rev., 62, 833. Greenhouse, L., & Siegel, R. (2012). Before Roe v. Wade: Voices That Shaped the Abortion Debate before the Supreme Court's Ruling. Yale Law School, Public Law Working Paper, (257).

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