SYMPOSIUM
Returning regulation to the states, and predictable harms to health
This article is part of a symposium on the court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
Nicole Huberfeld is Edward R. Utley professor of health law at Boston University School of Public Health and professor of law at Boston University School of Law.
“[T]he Constitution does not confer a right to abortion. Roe and Casey must be overruled, and the authority to regulate abortion must be returned to the people and their elected representatives.” With this holding, the Dobbs majority deepened state-by-state health inequities by upending a 50-year understanding that the 14th Amendment protects a right to privacy that includes access to abortion, among other intimate decisions. Already, Dobbs has produced legal instability and increased the risk of avoidable harms to both individual and public health.
Continue Reading