In a Supreme Court ruling in the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Center, Justice Samuel Alito criticized the landmark decision of Roe v. Wade, arguing that it was “egregiously wrong and on a collision course with the Constitution” for granting broad abortion rights to American women. Alito’s argument hinged on the fact that the Constitution never explicitly mentioned abortion, leading him to the conclusion that this issue should be left to the states to decide.
However, dissenting justices argued that the Constitution does not specifically mention several other issues including contraception, inter-racial marriage, “same-sex intimacy,” and marriage in general. They might have added travel to the list as well, another omission in the Constitution. Throughout two centuries, both the Supreme Court and lower federal courts have upheld these issues as fundamental rights deserving the highest level of judicial review.
In response to this new perspective on constitutional rights, on November 12, the U.S. Justice Department joined forces with an Alabama women’s health center and a support group for low-income abortion patients to file a Statement of Interest that aims to protect the right of women to travel out of state for abortions.
Meanwhile, controversies continue to stir at state level, with opponents of abortion rights fighting new state constitutional amendments protecting these rights. In Michigan, three Republican lawmakers filed a lawsuit in early November to overturn an amendment approved by voters.
There are even efforts in Ohio, where legal experts have decried recent anti-abortion legislature as contravening the state constitution’s separation-of-powers doctrine, and even the Republican Governor Mike DeWine has expressed doubts about this bill’s chances.
All these efforts indicate a significant constitutional confrontation looming on the horizon, underscoring the ongoing debates about how to interpret the Constitution in light of current societal issues, specifically the contentious issue of abortion rights.