- The Mississippi health official named in the case that overturned Roe v. Wade has not taken a stance on abortion.
- Dr. Thomas Dobbs wrote in a tweet that he had "no direct involvement in any component of this legal action."
- In Jackson, Mississippi protesters clashed with abortion clinic volunteers on Friday.
Jackson, Mississippi — He is the "Dobbs" in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Clinic, the Supreme Court Case that overturned Roe V. Wade.
Dr. Thomas Dobbs, the director of the Mississippi State Department of Health, is not known to have ever taken a public position on abortion. And yet, due to his role, his name will forever be part of the history of reproductive rights in America.
On Friday, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the state of Mississippi, overturning the nearly 50-year-old decision that legalized abortion. Justice Samuel Alito delivered the court's 5-4 majority opinion, joined by fellow conservative justices Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch, and Amy Coney Barrett.
Mississippi's Gestational Age Act, which bans abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, is at the center of the case. The Jackson Women's Health Clinic, the state's only abortion provider, brought a lawsuit against Dobbs and the state's health department in 2018 within a day of its passing.
In May, Dobbs wrote on Twitter that his name was only included in the lawsuit because he served as the state's top public health official, and he said he had "no direct involvement in any component of this legal action."
Dobbs and the MSDH did not immediately return Insider's request for comment.
Dobbs, an epidemiologist, became the head of the state's health department in 2018. That same year, when Jackson Women's Health initially sued the state health department, the suit was named Jackson Women's Health Clinic V. Currier, in reference to the state's former public health department leader, Dr. Mary Currier.
Dobbs's name was added to the case in 2019 after a federal judge blocked Mississippi's abortion law from taking effect and the state appealed to the Supreme Court.
Outside the Jackson Women's Health Clinic, debates about abortion continued to rage on Friday
Dobbs has yet to make any public comment regarding abortion or the overturning of Roe, but outside the Jackson Women's Health Clinic, pro-life protesters continued to clash with the clinic's volunteers on Friday.
Pro-life protestors cluttered the streets, blocking cars from entering the clinic's parking lot and shouting Bible verses at patients being escorted to and from their vehicles.
One man stood in front of a line of volunteers blocking him from entering the clinic's parking lot and shouted, "Y'all won't be killing babies in this place anymore" as Tom Petty's "Won't Back Down" played on the volunteer's loud speaker.
Rose Kasrai, a therapist and volunteer for the clinic, told Insider that she and her colleagues were "devastated by the Supreme Court's decision. Kasrai said she has "no idea" what the contingency plan is for the clinic and its volunteers after Friday.