The Supreme Court hears arguments on S.B. 8, the Texas law that effectively bans abortion after six weeks — before many know they are pregnant — and allows private citizens to sue doctors and others who help facilitate an abortion.

The cases the court hears on Nov. 1 raise complicated legal procedure questions because S.B. 8 was designed to avoid federal court review. The court will determine whether the United States or abortion providers and doctors may bring suit in federal court to prevent S.B. 8 from being enforced.

The Texas case is only the leadoff in what could be a momentous term for reproductive rights at the Supreme Court. The justices on Dec. 1 will consider a Mississippi law that bans most abortions after 15 weeks. That case, unlike the Texas law, will have implications for Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the cases that, respectively, first established a constitutional right to abortion in 1973 and reaffirmed it in 1992.

The Post’s Libby Casey anchors a special report featuring live audio from the court room. Casey is joined by reporters Rhonda Colvin, Caroline Kitchener, Ann Marimow and columnist James Hohmann. Read more: https://wapo.st/3CCZvmB. Subscribe to The Washington Post on YouTube: https://wapo.st/2QOdcqK

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