With his remark, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves confirmed the worst fears for some.

The sentence actually sounded harmless.

"We're not concentrating on that at the moment," said the Republican.

But it was in response to CNN journalist Jake Tapper's question as to whether his state would consider banning certain forms of contraception if the Supreme Court reconsidered abortion rights.

And it was the "currently" that made you sit up and take notice - because Reeves didn't want to deny that.

In another interview, also on Sunday, when asked, the governor said he didn't think there would be such a law in Mississippi.

But he is sure that it will become an issue in other states.

Sofia Dreisbach

North American political correspondent based in Washington.

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This is related to the draft of the Supreme Court decision that was pierced a week ago in that the right to an abortion is related to the almost fifty-year-old landmark decision in the “Roe v.

Wade” would be rescinded.

Then it would be up to the states to ban or significantly restrict abortion by law.

On the one hand, Judge Samuel Alito emphasizes in the draft that the decision only affects abortion, "no other rights".

Policy decisions that have nothing to do with abortion would not be questioned.

Mississippi fights "Roe v.

Wade" on

However, the argument emphasizes that the right to abortion cannot be derived from the constitution – which in this general formulation could also apply to other decisions of the Supreme Court, such as contraception and same-sex marriage.

Back in December, at the hearing on the Mississippi law that made Roe v.

Wade”, the liberal judge Sonia Sotomayor spoke of a “legal earthquake” should the fundamental decision be made.

In a debate with Mississippi Attorney General Scott Stewart, she warned of the implications for same-sex marriage, for example.

The decision is based on the same constitutional arguments.

Representatives from the LGBTQ community are concerned about this.

In a statement last week, the President of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, Sarah Kate Ellis, wrote: "None of us are safe from the extreme anti-women and anti-LGBTQ ideology that now dominates this court. The legal director of American civil rights organization Lambda Legal said such a precedent would be "downright devastating" for the community.

In 2015, after decades of litigation, the Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v.

Hodges” voted five to four that the Constitution guarantees the right to same-sex marriage.

The reasoning said the court derived the right to same-sex marriage from the 14th Amendment, “even though the right is nowhere mentioned in the text”—the same reasoning applies to the abortion decision.

Fence around the Supreme Court

The height of the black fence that was erected around the Supreme Court in Washington last week to shield it from protests also shows how heated the atmosphere is around the decision that is due in June.

On Monday, the Senate unanimously passed legislation extending security measures for judges to include their families after protests erupted outside some private homes.

The White House condemned the demonstrations in front of the houses of the constitutional judges as well as violent demonstrations in general.

Outgoing government spokeswoman Jen Psaki tweeted Monday that President Joe Biden is an advocate of the constitutional right to demonstrate.

"But that should never involve violence, threats or vandalism." Over the weekend in Wisconsin, an anti-abortion group's office was arson attacked;

nobody was injured.

The Democrats plan to vote in the Senate on Wednesday on the bill that would enshrine abortion rights in federal law.

Majority Leader Chuck Schumer submitted it on Monday.

It is extremely unlikely that the 60 votes required for this will come together.

But the Democrats are also concerned with the symbolic effect.

On Sunday, Schumer wrote on Twitter that this week's voting was "not an abstract exercise."

The stakes are as high as it gets.

“Senate Republicans will no longer be able to hide from the horror they have inflicted on women in America.

We'll see where each individual senator stands."