Mike Pence asks Supreme Court to overturn abortion rights

Former US Vice-President Mike Pence is calling on the Supreme Court to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v Wade case which legalised abortion in the US.

Mr Pence will reportedly call the ruling "a misguided decision" that harmed millions of unborn babies.

If Roe v Wade is overturned, millions of women will lose access to abortions.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will consider a Mississippi law banning abortion after 15 weeks.

The ban includes abortions on pregnancies caused by rape or incest.

The law, however, has not been enforced because of a legal challenge from the state's only abortion provider.

According to prepared remarks obtained by The Hill ahead of his speech on Tuesday afternoon Mr Pence will call on the Supreme Court to "make history".

"We are asking the Supreme Court of the United States to overturn Roe v Wade and restore the sanctity of human life to the centre of American law," the prepared remarks say.

Additionally, Mr Pence will argue that rulings from "unelected judges" are not reflective of popular opinion in the US.

He believes elected, state-level officials are better placed to write abortion laws for their own jurisdictions.

A nationwide ban on abortions is not on the horizon, but states may be given control over their own abortion laws.

Such a move would be "devastating" for low-income women, Katherine Franke, director of the center for gender and sexuality law at Columbia University, tells the BBC.

It would increase maternal mortality and poverty, she adds.

The US is one of seven out of 198 countries that allow elective abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, according to the Washington Post.

Mr Pence is expected to make the argument that some European countries - such as France and Spain - have tight restrictions on abortions after 14 weeks.

His comments will come a day before the Supreme Court considers the 2018 law passed in Mississippi that makes the vast majority of abortions illegal after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch has repeatedly called on Roe v Wade to be overturned. In a summer brief filed to the court, Ms Fitch said that the precedent the ruling set is "egregiously wrong".

A ruling in the state's favour would mean that states would be able to develop their own abortion laws. Experts believe that abortions would soon become illegal in more than 20 other states.

A decision from the court is expected in the summer of 2022.