This talk will examine the paradigm shift that is occurring now that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade. Returning abortion law to the states will spawn perplexing legal conflicts across state borders and between states and the federal government. This talk emphasizes how these issues intersect with innovations in the delivery of abortion, which can now occur entirely online and transcend state boundaries. Judges and scholars, and most recently the Supreme Court, have long claimed that abortion law will become simpler if Roe is overturned. But in reality, overturning Roe will create a novel world of complex, interjurisdictional legal conflicts over abortion. Some states will pass laws creating civil or criminal liability for out-of-state abortion travel while others will pass laws insulating their providers from out-of-state prosecutions. The federal government will also intervene, attempting to use federal laws to preempt state bans and federal land to shelter abortion services. Ultimately, once the constitutional protection for pre-viability abortion disappears, the impending battles over abortion access will transport the half-century war over Roe into a new arena, one that will make abortion jurisprudence more complex than ever before. This talk will offer insights into this fast-approaching transformation of abortion rights, law, and access, looking ahead to creative strategies to promote abortion access in a country without a constitutional abortion right.
CBSSM's Clinical Ethics Service sponsors the monthly Bioethics Grand Rounds. CME credit is available for Michigan Medicine faculty and staff.
