About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

13 ConLawNOW 1 (2021-2022)

handle is hein.journals/akjopal13 and id is 1 raw text is: ABORTION RIGHTS IN THE SUPREME COURT: A TALE OF THREE WEDGES Jennifer S. Hendricks * In mid-May, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in a case designed to overrule Roe v. Wade.' It's safe to assume that six justices are inclined to repudiate Roe, and some of those six would like to go further, declaring a constitutional right to life that would prevent the abortion issue from going back to the states at all. One of the six, Chief Justice Roberts, is known to prefer stealth overruling of precedent, and he will likely convince at least one other member of the majority to overrule Roe carefully, with an eye toward the Court's credibility and power. The question for the next year is not whether Roe will be overruled-it already was, in Planned Parenthood v. Casey2-but how far the Court will go. This essay describes the arc of the Supreme Court's abortion jurisprudence in terms of three wedges-wedges that pry the pregnant woman apart from first, her fetus; second, her doctor; and third, her community. The first two wedges have each taken a turn as the primary rationale for restricting abortion rights. Roe itself founded abortion rights on the first wedge as a theory for restricting them: the concept of a state interest in the fetus itself, as an entity distinct from the pregnant woman. As public opinion shifted in support of women seeking abortions, Casey shifted to a new rationale for restrictions: distrust of the abortion provider, from whom the woman needed to be protected. Most recently, at least one justice has taken an interest in anti-abortion rhetoric that drives a wedge between the pregnant woman and her community by accusing Black women who have abortions of participating in eugenics and genocide. Professor Melissa Murray has argued that this last wedge may provide the * Professor of Law, University of Colorado Law School 1. Jackson Women's Health Org. v. Dobbs, 945 F.3d 265 (5th Cir. 2019), cert. granted in part, No. 19-1392, (May 17, 2021). 2. 505 U.S. 833 (1992). 1

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most