C_Clayton_Jones
Diamond Member
Please expound. As I read that it only really refers to the state placing an undue burden on obtaining an abortion, not that a state cannot outlaw late term abortions. That is the point that I was speaking to as the rights of the mother are essentially overridden IF the state outlaws a late term abortion.
That is the context in which I was speaking because IF an abortion is outlawed because of the fetus age (late term) AND the woman retains a right to abort out of privacy rights THEN the fetus right to life has essentially overridden the womans right to an abortion.
In this or one of the many abortion threads is a citation from Casey referring to the womens privacy rights prior to viability.
The Casey Court abandoned the first trimester provision in Roe replacing it with the undue burden doctrine the goal was to allow states more flexibility with regard to regulating abortion. The Casey Majority also wanted to allow for a development of privacy rights/abortion jurisprudence to guide lower courts, establish settled and accepted case law on the issue, and to shield the Supreme Court from never-ending appeals with regard to every variation of the controversy.
This was a very wise action by the Court which has worked out well, an example of this is the Courts refusal to review a personhood ruling by the Oklahoma Supreme Court.
Prohibitions of late term abortions are therefore Constitutional, but are predicated on the states legitimate concern for the health and wellbeing of the mother and unborn child once viability is realized, not the unborn childs rights per se, as ones rights do not manifest until after he is born.
Fortunately decisions like Casey are merely judicial findings and can be reversed by another court.
Fortunately decisions like Casey address privacy rights, where abortion is a component of the ruling; after 47 years the right to privacy is settled and accepted law, the Courts refusing to grant cert to the Oklahoma case is evidence of that.
If opponents of abortion truly want to see abortion ended, theyll do so by addressing the root causes, not a top-down approach through the courts.