ROE V. WADE AND NEW REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGIES

Roe v. Wade and New Reproductive Technologies



Roe v. Wade and New Reproductive Technologies

Question 1

Roe v. Wade

Abortion was an intense focus during the congressional hearings on Roberts, whose nomination as Supreme Court chief justice was approved by the Senate in September 2005. In particular, Democrats opposed to Roberts's nomination focused on whether he would seek to overturn the Roe decision (Bachiochi, 2004). The Supreme Court has heard several abortion-related cases since Roe v. Wade. Although the court has become more conservative over the past 20 years, it has not moved to overturn the basic underpinnings of that case--which a woman has the right, under the 14th Amendment to the Constitution's guarantee of privacy and personal liberty, to opt for an abortion.

Supporters of the court's ruling include most of the nation's newspapers such as the Worcester Evening-Gazette, which in a September 9, 1995 editorial asserted:

“Roe v. Wadedid more than simply legalize abortion. It also reasserted the fundamental democratic principle that citizens have a right to be free of unwarranted government interference, especially in intensely personal areas such as reproduction issues” (Toner & Liptak, 2005).

Some legal experts argue that the court's ruling in Roe was unsound because it attempted to make a legal argument for a moral issue. They point out that nowhere in the Constitution is stealing or murder explicitly banned, for instance, yet it is understood that society makes a moral judgment not to tolerate such practices. In one of its most important recent decisions on abortion, in 1992, the Supreme Court reaffirmed the legality of abortion on demand in Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey. The court did, however, uphold one state-imposed restriction--that of "informed consent," which requires abortion providers to give patients detailed information about abortion risks, fetal development and alternatives ...