On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s health reshaped the discussion about abortion law established in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. The Dobbs case eliminated the federal constitutional right to abortion.
The Supreme Court’s decisions before Dobbs struggled to protect the constitutional right of privacy to terminate a pregnancy, considering the balance between the state’s legitimate interest in protecting the health of pregnant people as well as the status of the fetus. In 1973, the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade established the constitutional right to abortion before the pregnancy is considered viable. As a result of Roe, states had not been permitted to issue a ban on abortion before viability.
A significant change, the Dobbs ruling does not consider abortion rights as a fundamental constitutional right. States have started implementing and enforcing new laws on access to abortion. All states have the position to expand the restriction on abortion through 1) a trigger law that was enacted by the state knowing a new law could not be enforced until a triggering event would put the law in effect, 2) enforcement of laws previously enjoined by the courts, and 3) new legislation or ballot initiatives. Even though some states have enabled new legislation to codify abortion rights, another related issue is whether state facilities have a standard guideline to decide a woman’s safety or health in enacting an abortion. Thus, the individual must carefully monitor state and other federal laws to evaluate the risks associated with any such offerings of abortion.
In the current situation, the Dobbs case brought our attention to reviewing 1) whether the state’s new legislative activities are more obstacles or are, in fact, beneficial to individuals and 2) how the state’s facilities assure a woman’s safe and healthy access to abortion if there is no standard guideline. Detailed research areas are discussed in sub-categories: 1) Reproductive Rights, 2) Access to Abortion, 3) Infant Health, 4) the Affordable Care Act and Contraceptive Coverage, 5) Medicaid Expansion and State Medicaid Eligibility Protection, 6) Health care facility and professionals Protection and 7) Technology issues related to Protection.
Related Topics may include discussing the review of 1) each state’s status of enactment of the access to abortion, 2) available guidelines, 3) related laws and regulations, 4) any concerns about the access to abortion covered under current regulation and policy, 5) legal and regulatory suggestions to enact the access to the abortion, or 6) other related suggestions.
- Project Lead: Kathy Keunghee Kim
- Faculty Advisor: Jody Madeira
Published Articles:
#1: Clare Daniel, Abortion as Essential Healthcare Becomes Even Clearer After Dobbs (Feb. 21, 2023).
#2: Sharlene Chen & Kathy Kim, A Quick Review of the Abortion Debates and their Developments in Taiwan and the United States (Nov. 14, 2023).
