The lawyer who saved Roe v. Wade says US abortion rights will soon disappear

At a conference last week, Kathryn Kolbert, a litigator who has argued two abortion cases before the US Supreme Court including the landmark, Planned Parenthood vs. Casey in 1992, said it’s time to give up on Roe v. Wade. Speaking at the TED annual women’s summit, Kolbert, who has spent her entire career defending women’s rights, said it’s “likely” the country’s highest tribunal will effectively cancel women’s reproductive freedoms when they decide on two separate cases in Mississippi and Texas next year. Five of the nine justices—Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito—are expected to uphold Mississippi’s abortion ban after 15 weeks of pregnancy and in so doing, set a precedent for curtailing abortion rights in other states.