Roe V Wade Exit Ticket

A woman’s right to privacy is implicitly guaranteed in the First, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth, and 14th Amendments. As the Court ruled in Griswold, there are certain matters— including the decision about whether to have a child—that are individual decisions protected by the Constitution.

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A fetus, from the date of conception, is a person and has constitutional rights. The state has an important interest in protecting its future citizens. The right to life of the unborn child is superior to the right to privacy of the mother. The balancing of the two interests should favor the most vulnerable, the unborn child.

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There is no right to abortion guaranteed in the Constitution. It is mentioned nowhere in the text, and there is no reason to believe that those who wrote the 14th Amendment intended to protect that right.

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The law criminalizes a safe medical procedure, and it is too vague for doctors to know what they may or may not do. Doctors must determine that a woman’s life is at risk in order to perform a legal abortion, and their decision and professional interpretation of “at risk” could land them in jail.

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Unwanted pregnancies can have a major impact on women’s lives. In the 1970s, women could be asked to leave their jobs if they became pregnant, and most employers did not provide maternity leave. Women could be endangering their careers or finances in addition to their psychological and physical health by being forced to carry a pregnancy to term.

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Abortion is a policy matter best left to the state legislatures to decide. As elected officials, legislators make laws that reflect the popular will and morality of the people—as they have done here. The prohibition against abortion in Texas has existed since 1854.

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Women in Texas who wish to have an abortion must either travel to another state where abortion is legal or undergo an illegal abortion where conditions could be unsafe. Travel is costly and inconvenient, thus making access to a safe, legal abortion more difficult for poor women. Illegal abortions put women’s life, health, and wellbeing at risk.

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An unborn fetus is not legally recognized as a person and does not have rights equal to the mother. Abortions were more common in the 19th century, so it is clear that the framers of the 14th Amendment did not intend to include fetuses in the definition of “persons.” No Supreme Court case has established that a fetus is legally a person and, therefore, entitled to constitutional rights.

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In previous decisions where the Court protected individual or marital privacy, that right was not absolute. All protected rights are subject to reasonable regulation, and Texas has a strong interest in protecting life and protecting women’s health, so the abortion restrictions are reasonable.

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Abortion is different from contraception, so the Court’s decision in Griswold v. Connecticut does not apply here. Contraception prevents creation of life whereas abortion destroys existing life.

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