Courts or Legislatures?
	CONTINUE ON	Review Related Ideas and then Return Here

In deciding Roe the Court made every existing anti-abortion law in the United States unconstitutional. Blackmun said not only that a woman had a right of privacy that included the right to end a pregnancy, but also that the right was "fundamental." This meant that a state must demonstrate more than a rational connection between a limitation of the right and a legitimate state interest. It meant that only a "compelling" interest could justify a limitation. Such a standard places abortion virtually outside the purview of state legislatures during the first trimester of pregnancy.

Should the right to terminate a pregnancy be regarded as fundamental? Why not apply the (lower) rational connection standard? Can you argue for or against either application on the basis of legal precedent or some other constitutional ground?

Ariadne Home	Abortion Bibliography	Abortion Home