This week, the U.S. Supreme Court will consider an abortion rights case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. When it does, it will hear not only suspect legal arguments on behalf of Mississippi’s plainly unconstitutional 15-week abortion ban designed to overturn Roe v. Wade but also dubious claims.
For example, the state suggests in its briefs that birth control is effectively universally available and free and that women have achieved essentially equal economic security and success. This, the state argues, renders abortion care no longer necessary, so the court should stop recognizing it as a constitutional right.
These claims are false, and it would be devastating if fanciful “facts” provided the justification for upending nearly 50 years of precedent recognizing the right to abortion. The court has adopted specious facts as true before, notably in the context of voting rights, to devastating effect; it must not do so again.
The above excerpt was originally published in The Hill.
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