Enforcing Abortion Bans Is Much Harder Than Winning in Court
There’s no painless way to restrict choices for people who resist.
There’s no painless way to restrict choices for people who resist.
Although the chief justice's incrementalism did not sway his colleagues, his observations about the meaning of a "right to choose" could be relevant in state legislatures.
He also nixes the idea that states could "retroactively impose liability or punishment for an abortion that occurred before today's decision takes effect."
Most states are unlikely to enact bans, but 22 either have them already or probably will soon.
Looking back at how abortion advertising bans played out last century may give us some idea what the future holds for speech about abortion.
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Without citing any constitutional authority to dictate state abortion policies, the bill would have overridden regulations that have been upheld or have yet to be tested.
The last 50 years have been marked by a remarkably stable social consensus balancing the rights of women and fetuses. Let's not throw that away.
Americans cannot be neatly divided into two sides, and they do not necessarily understand the implications of Roe v. Wade.
The abortion precedent has faced withering criticism, including damning appraisals by pro-choice legal scholars, for half a century.
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The constitutional scholar on abortion, Sam Alito, and the future of federalism
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For libertarians who see unborn babies as innocent rights-bearing individuals, reducing the number of lives ended by abortion brings us closer to our credo.
Does returning decisions about abortion to the states increase liberty or shrink it?
Although recent polls show a majority thinks the abortion precedent should be preserved, some respondents seem confused about what that would mean.
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Abortion is likely to remain legal in most states, and workarounds will mitigate the effects of bans.
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Although a Texas Supreme Court ruling ended the main challenge to the law, other cases could ultimately block its enforcement.
But the bill is still a mess.
The experience in Texas shows that workarounds pose daunting obstacles to such laws.
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Federal regulators have permanently lifted a requirement that mifepristone be dispensed in person.
Gavin Newsom is exploring legislation to authorize private civil actions against people who sell "assault weapons" or gun kits.
The Court allowed claims against health care regulators to proceed, but that will not prevent the private civil actions authorized by the law.
District Court Judge David Peeples focused on the law's "unique and unprecedented" enforcement mechanism rather than abortion rights.
Harvey, who died last week, dedicated his life to supporting human pleasure along with the power to manage it responsibly.
The justices may find it difficult to uphold Mississippi's abortion ban without overturning Roe v. Wade.
The "viability" rule is arbitrary. So are the alternatives.
Even justices who take a dim view of Roe v. Wade recognize the law’s chilling implications.
The actual number of abortions that S.B. 8 prevented by the end of September may be closer to 500 than 3,000.
The experience with the Texas Heartbeat Act offers a preview of what that means.
S.B. 8 allows lawsuits against people who perform prohibited abortions even if they relied on a court's determination that the law is unconstitutional.
In a prior case challenging the law, the 5th Circuit said state judges were not appropriate defendants.
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In the first two lawsuits filed under S.B. 8, all of the parties seem to think enforcement of the law should be blocked.
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Alan Braid says he broke the law, which prohibits the vast majority of abortions, to make sure it would be tested in court.
Meanwhile, the threat posed by the lawsuits that S.B. 8 authorizes has dramatically curtailed access to abortion in Texas.
S.B. 8 relies on litigation tricks that conservatives have long condemned as a threat to the rule of law.