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When the Supreme Court hands down its decision in a highly-watched Mississippi abortion case this summer, access to legal abortion could end for more than 100 million Americans, including those living in nearly every Southern state and large swaths of the Midwest. Twenty-one states are poised to immediately ban or acutely curtail access to abortions if the Supreme Court chooses to overturn or weaken Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that for nearly 50 years has guaranteed women's right to seek an abortion, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group in favor of abortion rights. (Sullivan, 12/2)

If the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, abortions could be harder to access even in states where they remain legal, because those clinics could be flooded with patients from states that have cracked down. This has happened before, and clinics fear the crush of demand would be a major problem in the immediate wake of a decision that would allow states to ban abortion. (Reed, 12/3)

When Sam Blakely found out she was pregnant, she balled up her shower curtain and put it in her mouth so she could scream as loud as she needed to without her roommates hearing. After a night out, a coworker had brought her to her home and raped her, an experience that came to haunt her when they would run into one another in the casino where they worked. Now -- as a result of that attack -- she was pregnant. Blakely had an abortion. She knew the decision was right for her at the time and, she felt, was reinforced as she went through trauma treatment for her attack -- and as the man continued to stalk her, sending flowers and showing up at her house. (Holcombe, 12/2)

During his confirmation to the Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh convinced Sen. Susan Collins that he thought a woman’s right to an abortion was “settled law,” calling the court cases affirming it “precedent on precedent” that could not be casually overturned. Amy Coney Barrett told senators during her Senate confirmation hearing that laws could not be undone simply by personal beliefs, including her own. “It’s not the law of Amy,” she quipped. But during this week’s landmark Supreme Court hearing over a Mississippi law that could curtail if not outright end a woman’s right to abortion, the two newest justices struck a markedly different tone, drawing lines of questioning widely viewed as part of the court’s willingness to dismantle decades old decisions on access to abortion services. (Mascaro, 12/3)

Democrats and Republicans alike told Fox News that the Supreme Court should not have the final say when it comes to abortion access. "The state of Mississippi has really certainly led a courageous fight in order to make sure that these are decided on the state level, that this kind of thing is decided by elected officials, not the Supreme Court," Rep. Michelle Fischbach, a Minnesota Republican, told Fox News. And Michigan Democrat Rep. Haley Stevens noted: "We don't need the Supreme Court intervening between a woman and her doctor." (Michael Raasch and Wall, 12/2)

KHN: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: Roe V. Wade On The Rocks

A Supreme Court majority appears ready to overturn nearly 50 years of abortion rights, at least judging by the latest round of oral arguments before the justices. And a new covid variant, omicron, gains attention as it spreads around the world. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet and Shefali Luthra of The 19th join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews Blake Farmer of Nashville Public Radio about the latest KHN-NPR “Bill of the Month” episode. (12/2)