Mississippi’s existing law, even a clause in its state Constitution, will prohibit same-sex marriage if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns its 2015 gay marriages ruling. It is clear and concise. The Mississippi law states that “Marriage may occur and may be legal under the laws this state only between a male and female.” It seems unlikely that gay marriage could be rescinded. However, many legal scholars suggest that the reasoning in the leaked draft Supreme Court opinion, which would overturn Roe V. Wade, could be used to deny a nation’s right to abortion. The Supreme Court’s original abortion decision cited a right of privacy and other rights not specifically mentioned in the U.S. Constitution. Recently leaked Supreme Court draft opinions state that Roe v. Wade should not be upheld because the Constitution does not explicitly allow for abortion. The draft opinion would not ban abortion, but it would allow each state to make its own decision. Mississippi already has the “trigger law” mentioned above that would be implemented if Roe V. Wade is overturned. Similar to the Mississippi law banning same-sex marriages, there’s also a Mississippi law. It’s possible that politicians might try to convince the highest court of the United States to follow the same logic used to overturn Roe V. Wade and allow same-sex couples to wed. Instead, each state would decide. If Roe V. Wade is ultimately overturned, then politicians would pass laws that are blatantly contrary to Roe v. Wade in hopes that the justices will reverse their decision. In 2015 Obergefell-v. Hodges, the Supreme Court approved gay marriage with a narrow 5-4 margin. Conservative justices argued that gay marriage was not protected by the U.S. Constitution. This is the exact same argument that was used to overturn Roe v. Wade. There are now more conservative justices than in 2015. In 2004, the state approved the Mississippi Constitution’s ban on gay marriage. Both chambers of Congress overwhelmingly approved it. The Senate voted unanimously. It was then approved by 86% state electorates in the 2004 November general elections. The provision that bans gay marriage was approved by every county. To highlight the hot topic of gay marriage in Mississippi, lawmakers passed a bill in 2016. This allows public officials to refuse to provide services to gay couple, such as issuing marriage licenses, and also allows private businesses to not offer services to them. The federal courts have not overturned this legislation which ensures that the state will issue a license for marriage to gay couples even if the clerk declines to provide the service. According to the Public Religion Research Institute, only three states voted against gay marriage in 2017, according to polling. There are thousands of gay couples already married since 2015, so that is not a major obstacle for the Supreme Court to overturn gay marriage. What would happen to these marriages? If Roe v. Wade were to be reversed, don’t be surprised if politicians try to end gay marriage. The Supreme Court also declared unconstitutional state bans on inter-racial marriage in 1964. The Mississippi Constitution’s provision banning interracial married was still in force until 1986 when it was removed by the Legislature. Voters approved the provision to remove the interracial marriage ban, but it was by a much smaller margin (52% to 48%), than that which passed most other constitutional amendments in the state.