The Supreme Court’s next foray into the legality of state laws criminalizing abortions will force them to wrestle with a fundamental question — are pregnant women entitled to the full protection of the law? Women used to be second-class citizens. We were deprived not just of the right to vote, but until very recently, we were deprived of the right to do basic things such as open bank accounts. It wasn’t until 1993, for example, that we reached the point where every state had outlawed spousal rape. Now, less than two years after the Supreme Court stripped abortion rights from the U.S. Constitution, it stands poised to put women’s ability to obtain medical care at further risk.
This time, as the court addresses questions related to restrictive state abortion laws, it will focus on a federal law that entitles all people to emergency medical care regardless of their ability to pay for that care. The specific legal question for the justices is whether, under this federal law, pregnant women facing true medical emergencies may obtain abortions even in states that would otherwise outlaw the procedure.
For more on this story, please visit npr.org.