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Originally Posted by robayon
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Let us take this and apply it to women's right to obtain an abortion
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There's nothing in the constitution giving a right to obtain an abortion. It's based on a flimsy right to privacy argument.
Quote:
Writing for the majority opinion in Roe v. Wade, Justice Harry Blackmun said that the court held a woman’s right to an abortion was implicit in the right to privacy protected under the 14th Amendment. However, while the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a woman's right to choose, it also acknowledged the state's interest in protecting the "potential of human life."
To balance the competing interests, the court established a "trimester" framework for the legality of abortions:
First Trimester (up to 12 weeks): Gives a woman an absolute right to an abortion in the first three months of pregnancy.
Second Trimester (up to 28 weeks: Allows the government to regulate abortion in order to protect the mother’s health, but cannot ban it.
Third Trimester (up to 40 weeks): Because the fetus is considered "viable" — can survive on its own outside the womb (about 24 weeks of pregnancy) — states can prohibit abortion except in cases when the mother's life is at risk.
Many states sought to circumvent Roe by imposing procedural hurdles upon women seeking abortions and the Supreme Court was repeatedly tasked with deciding whether these restrictions violated a woman’s right to privacy.
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It's a real stretch to call abortion a constitutional right because of the fourteenth amendment and a right to privacy.