The U.S. Supreme Court turned its back on America’s core constitutional ideals — liberty and equality— when it erroneously ruled women have no constitutional right to abortion.
Kate W. Isaacs, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
When ideological enemies talk across their great divides, something good can happen – it reduces stereotypes and inflammatory language directed at people who don’t agree on the abortion rights issue.
The U.S. House of Representatives recently voted for a bill that would federally protect same-sex marriage – and 47 Republicans signed on, too. Same-sex marriage isn’t the partisan issue it once was.
Justice Samuel Alito said that abortion policy crafted by elected representatives in the states would be more responsive to what constituents want than federal protection of the right. He was wrong.
Some reasons people oppose abortion seem to be at odds with other positions they hold. Evolutionary social science points to a surprising motivation for anti-abortion attitudes.
Abortion funds, which help people who cannot afford the procedure, are facing new kinds of pressures, including potential legal risks and a rising client demand that exceeds their capabilities.
As many as 80% of young people want abortion to be legal, and most disagree with the Supreme Court’s recent Dobbs v. Jackson ruling. This could lead to high youth voting rates in the 2022 midterms.
Only 24 countries today totally ban abortion. The Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision in the US is unlikely to lead other countries to join that list.
By overturning Roe v. Wade, the US Supreme Court has thrown the issue of abortion back to the states – and made it harder for Black and brown women to have access to reproductive health services.
A historian explains why the pre-Roe anti-abortion movement was filled with liberal Democrats who opposed the Vietnam War and supported the expansion of the welfare state.
Tennessee and Wisconsin are among the states that can jail pregnant women because of illegal substance use, despite major medical groups saying that this practice isn’t effective.
Scholars explain why many see abortion access as a religious freedom issue and what the views of different faiths are on ‘ensoulment,’ the point at which the soul is believed to enter the fetus.
The Supreme Court held off at least another day before announcing a ruling on abortion rights. High profile cases take more time to finalize, but there are also political and public relations factors.
The Supreme Court potentially overturning Roe v. Wade this spring will be only the first part of a complicated legal saga that will play out at the state level.
A scholar of constitutional law and American religious history explains how the abortion issue has been historically rooted in religious beliefs, giving a moral certainty that law cannot provide.