****IA Senate bill to ban abortion****

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

8. Stare decisis is respected by the justices but decisions do get overturned.

Lower courts are obliged to follow precedents established by a higher court, but the Supreme Court, being the highest court, is not required to follow its own prior decisions but may reverse itself if it so chooses. Most of the time it doesn't because it recognizes the need for stability in the law. But it has happened many times, usually because the court decides either that a previous case was wrongly decided, or because circumstances have substantially changed such that the rule established by a previous case should no longer apply. A number of very famous cases expressly overruled previous decisions (a list is here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_overruled_United_States_Supreme_Court_decisions) For example, in the loathsome Citizens United case the court overruled its own decision in Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce, decided in 1990.

So there's no guarantee that the current court would uphold Roe v. Wade if another abortion case is appealed and the court chooses to hear it.