Overturning abortion rights ignores freedoms awarded after slavery’s end, says Peggy Cooper Davis
The law professor argues that constitutional amendments after the civil war enshrined bodily and family autonomy
THIS MONTH, America’s Supreme Court is widely expected to reverse Roe v Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision holding that women have a constitutional right to terminate an early pregnancy. A leaked draft of Justice Samuel Alito’s opinion in Dobbs v Jackson, a case in which Roe is directly challenged, has generated understandable concern over the human and social effects of such a ruling. The consequences of losing the ability to interrupt an unwanted pregnancy are profound, and the consequences of being born outside the embrace of family can be equally so.
This article appeared in the By Invitation section of the print edition under the headline “Overturning abortion rights ignores freedoms awarded after slavery’s end, says Peggy Cooper Davis”
From the June 25th 2022 edition
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