The Supreme Court is gearing up to hear a serious legal challenge on Dec. 1 to its 1973 ruling that legalized abortion throughout the United States—and contributed mightily to the polarization of the politics of the nation for nearly half a century. The court will hear Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, court file 19-1392, a challenge to Mississippi’s Gestational Age Act, which allows abortions after 15 weeks’ gestational age only in medical emergencies or for severe fetal abnormality. Lower courts struck down the statute. It is the first direct challenge to Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that made abortion lawful throughout the United States, that the high court will hear since conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s addition to the bench a year ago gave its conservative wing a 6–3 majority. Barrett replaced the late liberal icon Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, leading to widespread condemnation by left-wing activists who say …