Facts
- In Roe v. Wade (1973), the Supreme Court recognized a constitutional right to obtain an abortion before fetal viability.
- In Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey (1992), the Court reaffirmed a pre-viability abortion right and applied an “undue burden” test to abortion regulations.
- In 2018, Mississippi enacted the Gestational Age Act, which generally prohibited abortions after 15 weeks’ gestational age, except in a medical emergency or in cases of severe fetal abnormality.
- The Mississippi legislature stated interests including protection of unborn life and related health and medical-regulation concerns.
- Jackson Women’s Health Organization (an abortion clinic) and one of its physicians sued Thomas Dobbs, a state health official, in federal district court, arguing the Act violated the constitutional protections recognized in Roe and Casey.
- The district court granted summary judgment for the plaintiffs and permanently enjoined enforcement, reasoning that, under existing Supreme Court precedent, Mississippi could not ban nontherapeutic abortions before viability and 15 weeks was pre-viability.
- The Fifth Circuit affirmed the injunction on the same ground.
- The Supreme Court granted certiorari to decide whether pre-viability prohibitions on elective abortions are unconstitutional; Mississippi (supported by other states) urged the Court to overrule Roe and Casey, while the clinic and the United States urged the Court to reaffirm them and invalidate the law.
Issues
- Whether the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause protects a right to obtain an abortion.
- Whether a state may prohibit elective abortions before fetal viability.
- Whether Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey should be overruled.
- If abortion is not a fundamental constitutional right, what level of scrutiny applies to abortion regulations.
Decision
- The Court held that the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion.
- The Court overruled Roe and Casey, rejecting the viability line and the undue-burden framework as constitutional requirements.
- The Court held that abortion regulations are subject to rational-basis review, because abortion is not a fundamental right protected by the Constitution.
- Applying rational-basis review, the Court upheld Mississippi’s 15-week Gestational Age Act as supported by legitimate state interests.
- The Court reversed the Fifth Circuit’s judgment and remanded for further proceedings consistent with the Court’s opinion.
Legal Principles
- An unenumerated right claimed under substantive due process receives constitutional protection only if it is deeply rooted in the Nation’s history and tradition and implicit in the concept of ordered liberty.
- Because abortion is not a right protected by the Constitution, states may regulate abortion, and such regulations are generally reviewed under rational-basis review.
- The Constitution does not require a viability line as a boundary for abortion regulation, and it does not require the undue-burden test as a constitutional standard.
- Stare decisis is an important doctrine but does not require retaining a constitutional precedent that the Court finds seriously erroneous, poorly reasoned, unworkable, and lacking sufficient justification in law, including after consideration of reliance interests.
- The authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives through state and federal lawmaking.
Conclusion
In Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the Supreme Court upheld Mississippi’s 15-week abortion restriction, held that the Constitution does not protect a right to abortion, and overruled Roe and Casey, replacing the viability and undue-burden frameworks with rational-basis review and returning primary authority over abortion regulation to elected lawmakers.