In recent years a number of state laws restricting abortion have been winding through lower-court challenges toward a final showdown in the Supreme Court. Tracking their progress has been like witnessing a car crash in slow motion, because any of them might lead to an explosive ruling that would overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that created abortion rights.
Last week a federal appeals court set the stage for that collision when it upheld most of Pennsylvania's law, putting that statute first in line for possible review by the high court. The lower court approved provisions of the law requiring...