Supreme Court to hear first of two appeals on abortion rights, with arguments Monday over Texas' six-week ban

The U.S. Supreme Court will embark Monday on the first chapter of a legal saga over abortion that could see the nationwide right to the procedure sharply limited in coming months

The justices over the next month will hear separate challenges to restrictions on abortion access enacted by Mississippi – with its ban after 15 weeks of pregnancy – and Texas – with a more restrictive six-week ban.

The Texas dispute will be heard first, in two hours of oral arguments Monday, which will be more procedural in nature, and not likely to address the key question of whether the state law's restrictions on most abortions are constitutional.

That high-stakes debate will happen Dec. 1, when Mississippi's law will be argued before the nine justices. The state wants key Supreme Court precedents permitting abortions, known as Roe (1973) and Casey (1992) – struck down entirely.