On Wednesday, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett suggested that forced pregnancy is fine because the woman can give up her for adoption. Barret’s suggestion came as the justices heard oral arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health over a Mississippi law that calls to overturn Roe v. Wade.
The Mississippi law in question on Wednesday would ban most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, a statute that violates the 1973 Roe decision.
“Both Roe and Casey emphasize the burdens of parenting,” Barrett said, latching onto the cases’ focus on the ways forced motherhood hinders equal opportunity, The Daily Beast’s AJ McDougall noted. She then asked why “safe haven” laws, regulations under which parents cannot be prosecuted for leaving their newborn in a safe location or with an appropriate person, don’t “take care of that problem.”
Justice Brett Kavanaugh questioned whether abortion decisions should even be made at the federal level, asking, “Why should the court be the arbiter? There’ll be different access in Mississippi and New York, Alabama and California.”
Don't Miss
After nearly two hours of argument, all six justices in the court’s conservative majority seemed to signal they would rule to undermine Roe.
Barrett, Kavanaugh, and Neil Gorsuch, the three justices he appointed to the Supreme Court by Donald Trump appeared eager to restrict abortion by upholding the Mississippi law that would ban almost all abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
Listen to Barrett’s comments below.
This question from Amy Coney Barrett is basically game over for Roe. She says: Now that all 50 states have "safe haven" laws that let women relinquish parental rights after birth, the burdens of parenthood discussed in Roe and Casey are irrelevant, and the decisions are obsolete. pic.twitter.com/omyhGISVmN
— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) December 1, 2021
