Featuring MSFC Medical Director, Pamela Merrit, and MSFC Alum, David Eisenberg, MD, MPH.

[…] The bitter battle over abortion rights has long divided and ignited America. Now it’s set to intensify, with the Supreme Court due to reconsider the seminal Roe v. Wade decision later this year.

Fifty years ago, the Supreme Court guaranteed a woman’s right to an abortion but that right has gradually been whittled away at the state level. If the new conservative majority on the Court reverses the federal precedent, many ‘pro-life’ states could ban abortion overnight.

The two states of Missouri and Illinois illustrate the great American divide. They share a border – the mighty Mississippi River – but when it comes to women’s reproductive health, they’ve got little in common.

US correspondent Kathryn Diss travels to the Midwest at a time when activists on both sides are gearing up to fight for this highly contested right.