I don't understand.

[cali]

The new 12 week law re abortion, in Arkansas, and the pending "fetal heartbeat/6 week law" in N.D, are, according to their proponents in the respective state legislatures, designed specifically to challenge Roe v Wade in the SCOTUS. Many news articles and analysis state this if it was a reality that one of these cases will wend its way to the top court. Here's an example:

North Dakota Has Funds to Fight Over Abortion

As oil-rich North Dakota moves toward outlawing most abortions, it's in a better position than most states for what could be a long and costly court battle over its restrictions.

Lawmakers on Friday sent the Republican governor two anti-abortion bills, one banning the procedure as early as six weeks into a pregnancy and another prohibiting women from having the procedure because a fetus has a genetic defect, such as Down syndrome. They would be the most restrictive abortion laws in the U.S

Abortion-rights activists have promised a legal battle over the measures if they become law. But supporters of the bills say their goal is to challenge the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion up until a fetus is considered viable, usually at 22 to 24 weeks

<snip>

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/north-dakota-funds-fight-abortion-18743884

<snip>

The "heartbeat" bill provides exceptions if an abortion would prevent the death or irreversible impairment of a pregnant woman but no exceptions for rape. It sets up a direct challenge to the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion in 1973.

<snip>

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/15/us-usa-abortion-northdakota-idUSBRE92E10320130315

Here's what I don't understand: How these laws (and the ND law will likely be signed into law on Monday) will be granted cert by the Supreme Court. Roe constitutionally protects a woman's right to an elective abortion up to the time that the fetus is viable outside the womb. Would any appeals court or State Supreme Court rule against that constitutionally protected right? Oklahoma passed laws similar to the one in Arkansas and ND and they were struck down.

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/12/05/1284091/oklahoma-supreme-court-abortion/

If such a case does make it the SCOTUS, what legal rationale would they use to strike down Roe, should that be the majority opinion?

[Soliveindenialthen]

1. What is so hard to understand?

The Right has been doing this nonsense for decades, now they have a big pile of cash and a stacked court that has no problem ignoring the law and precedents to get what they want. To them the time is right to get what they want once and for all.

[cali]

2. Uh, did you actually read the OP? Regardless of piles of cash (not in the case of Arkansas)

The problem for these folks is getting it the SC as demonstrated by the Oklahoma ruling and other courts that have struck down such laws.

[KharmaTrain]

3. The Other Abortion Industry...

...is not the clinics but the large right wing money machine that's the real abortion problem. For decades the rushpublicans have found that those who want to prevent a woman's right to choose will send in lots of money and fill collection plates to "save the babies". They've been traumatized with graphic videos and non-stop propaganda and are milked for their money and votes. The rushpublicans have had chances to do away with Roe and didn't pursue it on the federal level as keeping it an issue kept the checks and votes rolling in.

That said, these draconian attempts to overturn Roe are the latest tactic of a stalward group that has worked hard to push anti-abortion legislation in dark red states. They hope that they can catch Tony Kennedy on a "bad day" and get a 5-4 ruling...or that the case drags on long enough for another rushpublican to become president and then name one more right winger to the court. In the meantime they'll continue to push these obscene and invasive bills as long as it is a cash cow...

Cheers...

[Fumesucker]

4. Not really a lot to understand, they are just either coocoo for cocoa puffs or cynical game players

The coocoo ones will do anything and everything they think has the slightest chance of getting past the SCOTUS.

The high level pols that do this though are mostly doing it cynically, they don't personally give a damn but they know it excites the real crackpots. That old definition of a leader comes to mind, someone who figures out where the crowd is going and runs out in front hollering follow me.