Dan Koeck for The New York Times

Forty years after the Roe v. Wade decision made abortion legal and recognized a woman’s right to control her body and her life, the issue may well be headed back to the Supreme Court.

Opponents of abortion rights have been patiently and methodically chipping away at the 1973 decision, getting laws passed that restrict the circumstances under which women can exercise their right to have a legal abortion, and making it harder for doctors to provide abortions or even abortion counseling. Republican governors and legislatures in several states, notably Texas, have made an even broader assault on women’s health by trying to close clinics that provide birth control counseling, breast cancer screening and other important services.

The movement has accelerated dramatically in recent weeks with the passage of new anti-abortion laws in Arkansas and North Dakota. Arkansas enacted a law that seeks to make abortion illegal after 12 weeks. North Dakota went even further, passing a bill that would make abortion illegal after six weeks.



I’m using the conditional here because under Roe v. Wade those bills are clearly unconstitutional, and they will be challenged. The lawmakers who voted for and signed them know that. In fact, it may well be the whole point of this exercise.

North Dakota’s right-wing governor, Jack Dalrymple, was open about his intentions when he signed the abortion ban. “Although the likelihood of this measure surviving a court challenge remains in question, this bill is nevertheless a legitimate attempt by a state legislature to discover the boundaries of Roe v. Wade,” he said in a statement. “Because the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed state restrictions on the performing of abortions and because the Supreme Court has never considered this precise restriction in HB 1456, the constitutionality of this measure is an open question.”

Cecile Richards, head of Planned Parenthood, told the Washington Post’s Wonkblog that she thinks abortion rights are headed back to the Supreme Court. “We’ve got 42 states that have introduced legislation to reduce access to reproductive health care,” she said. “It’s not only access to legal abortion but also access to a wide array of health care. Even in North Dakota, it’s not just [the six-week law], but they also passed a law to put a personhood amendment on the ballot.”

A personhood amendment, you may recall, defines life as starting at conception. That would not only outlaw any abortion, but some forms of birth control as well.

Ms. Richards said she thinks the Supreme Court will not take away women’s right to choose. I hope she’s right.