LibGuides: POLS 210G: American Constitutional Law: Abortion

U.S. Supreme Court Overturns Roe v. Wade

The case decided on June 24, 2022 by the U.S. Supreme Court that led to the reversal of the constitutional right to abortion is titled Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization:

To read the original document containing this decision, click here. For access to other past Supreme Court decisions, go to their website and select the "Opinions of the Court" page. Previous cases on abortion include:

United States v. Vuitch (1971)
Roe v. Wade (1973)
Harris v. McRae (1980)
Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey (1992)

For a broader perspective on how the Supreme Court's interpretation of the Constitution has affected American's personal lives, take a look at this article from the Congressional Research Service: Privacy Rights Under the Constitution: Procreation, Child Rearing, Contraception, Marriage, and Sexual Activity.

Books and E-books

For more books on the abortion debate, search SpartaCat, the Library's online catalog. If you're in the Library and would like to browse the book collection, go to these call number areas:

HQ 767 = Social, political, and religious aspects
KF 3771 = Legal aspects
RG 734 = Medical aspects

The titles listed below are just a small sample of many books in the Library about abortion, birth control, reproductive rights, and other women's issues. If you need help finding information, be sure to ask a Librarian!

Abortion (Information Plus series) by Wexler, Barbara.
Call Number: HQ 767 .A26 2018
ISBN: 9781410325341
Publication Date: 2018
Chapter 1. Abortion : an eternal social and moral issue -- Chapter 2. U.S. Supreme Court decisions -- Chapter 3. Abortion : a major political issue -- Chapter 4. Abortion in the United States : a statistical study -- Chapter 5. Teen pregnancy and abortion -- Chapter 6. Abortion clinics -- Chapter 7. Medical and ethical questions concerning abortion -- Chapter 8. Abortion around the world -- Chapter 9. Public attitudes toward abortion -- Chapter 10. Abortion : the ongoing debate.
Abortion After Roe by Schoen, Johanna.
Call Number: HQ 767.5 .U5 S36 2015 Online
ISBN: 9781469621180
Publication Date: 2015
Abortion is -- and always has been -- an arena for contesting power relations between women and men. When in 1973 the Supreme Court made the procedure legal throughout the United States, it seemed that women were at last able to make decisions about their own bodies. In the four decades that followed, however, abortion became ever more politicized and stigmatized. This book chronicles and analyzes what the new legal status and changing political environment have meant for abortion providers and their patients.
Defenders of the Unborn: The Pro-Life Movement Before Roe v. Wade by Williams, Daniel K.
Call Number: HQ 767.5 .U5 W556 2016
ISBN: 9780199391646
Publication Date: 2016
Abortion is the most divisive issue in America's culture wars, seemingly creating a clear division between conservative members of the religious right and people who align themselves with socially and politically liberal causes. In this book, historian Daniel K. Williams reveals the history of abortion debates in the United States by offering a detailed, engagingly written narrative of the pro-life movement's mid-20th-century origins. He explains that the movement began long before Roe v. Wade, and traces its 50-year history to explain how and why abortion politics have continued to polarize the nation up to the present day.
Policing the Womb: Invisible Women & the Criminalization of Motherhood by Goodwin, Michele.
Call Number: KF 3760 .G65 2020
ISBN: 9781107030176
Publication Date: 2020
This book brings to life the chilling ways in which women have become the targets of secretive state surveillance of their pregnancies. Author Michele Goodwin expands the reproductive health and rights debate beyond abortion to include how legislators increasingly turn to criminalizing women for miscarriages, stillbirths, and threatening the health of their pregnancies. The horrific results include women giving birth while shackled in leg irons, in solitary confinement, and even delivering in prison toilets. In some states, pregnancy has become a bargaining chip with prosecutors offering reduced sentences in exchange for women agreeing to be sterilized. The text shows how prosecutors may abuse laws and infringe women's rights in the process, sometimes with the complicity of medical providers who disclose private patient information to law enforcement. Often the women most affected are poor and of color. This timely book brings to light how the unrestrained efforts to punish and police women's bodies have led to the United States being the deadliest country in the developed world in which to be pregnant.
Pro: Reclaiming Abortion Rights by Pollitt, Katha.
Call Number: HQ 767.5 .U5 P65 2014
ISBN: 9780312620547
Publication Date: 2014
In this urgent, controversial book, author Katha Pollitt reframes abortion as a common part of a woman's reproductive life, one that should be accepted as a moral right with positive social implications. Pollitt takes on the personhood argument, reaffirms the priority of a woman's life and health, and discusses why terminating a pregnancy can be a force for good for women, families, and society. It is time, Pollitt argues, that we reclaim the lives and the rights of women and mothers.
Reproductive Rights: Global Viewpoints by Roberts, Kathryn.
Call Number: HQ 766 .R444 2020
ISBN: 9781534505605
Publication Date: 2020
Around the world, state legislatures have taken the liberty of policing women's bodies, suppressing women's rights, and restricting or prohibiting access to health care, contraception, and abortion. In some countries, women have been banned from breastfeeding in public, are subject to forced sterilization, and are required to have spousal authorization for prenatal and obstetric treatments. Are reproductive rights human rights, and if so, how do we ensure them? This thought-provoking resource offers global perspectives on the need to expand reproductive health services to ensure the safety and agency of women around the world.
The Turnaway Study: Ten Years, A Thousand Women, and the Consequences of Having -- Or Being Denied -- an Abortion by Foster, Diana Greene.
Call Number: HQ 767.5 .U5 F67 2020
ISBN: 1982141565
Publication Date: 2020
What happens when a woman seeking an abortion is turned away? To answer this question, author Diana Greene Foster assembled a team of scientists -- psychologists, epidemiologists, demographers, nurses, physicians, economists, sociologists, and public health researchers -- to conduct a 10-year study. They followed 1,000 women from across America, some of whom received abortions, some of whom were turned away. Now, for the first time, Dr. Foster presents the results of this landmark study in one extraordinary, groundbreaking book. Judges, politicians, and pro-life advocates routinely defend their anti-abortion stance by claiming that abortion is physically risky, and leads to depression and remorse. Dr. Foster's data proves the opposite to be true. Foster documents the outcomes for women who received and were denied an abortion, analyzing the impact on their mental and physical health, their careers, their romantic relationships, and their other children, if they have them. Women who received an abortion were better off by almost every measure than women who did not, and five years after they receive an abortion, 99 percent of women do not regret it. This book offers the first thorough, data-driven examination of the negative consequences for women who cannot get abortions and provides incontrovertible evidence to refute the claim that abortion harms women.

NEW Books in the NCC Library Collection!

Bodies on the Line: At the Front Lines of the Fight to Protect Abortion in America by Rankin, Lauren.
Call Number: HQ 767.5 .U5 R36 2022
ISBN: 9781640094741
Publication Date: 2022
Abortion has been legal for nearly 50 years in the United States, but with a new conservative majority on the Supreme Court and an emboldened opposition in the street, the threat to its existence has never been more pressing. Clinic escorts -- everyday volunteers -- are prepared to stand up and protect abortion access, as they have for decades, even in the face of terrorism and violence. They have lived, and sometimes died, to make abortion not only accessible but also fundamentally human. Clinic escorts have fought the 'abortion wars' on the frontlines, and it is clinic escorts who will win it, by replacing hostility with humanity. By collecting the stories (including the author's own) of these brave volunteers from around the country, as well as interviews with clinic staff and patients, and research and input from abortion rights experts, this book makes a clear case for the right to an abortion as a fundamental part of human dignity, and the stakes facing us all if it ends. The text is a celebration of the crucial, often unsung heroes of abortion access, and an inspiring call to defend this basic healthcare right before it's too late.
Controlling Women: What We Must Do Now to Save Reproductive Freedom by Kolbert, Kathryn.
Call Number: HQ 767.5 .U5 K65 2021
ISBN: 9780306925634
Publication Date: 2021
While the legal decision Roe v. Wade is a household name in America, few are aware of the impact of Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the Supreme Court's 1992 ruling that preserved -- but redefined and substantially limited -- abortion rights, especially for the most marginalized women. Casey rather than Roe has established the constitutional standards that today govern abortion in the United States. When pundits talk about the reversal of Roe, they really mean the reversal of Casey. Within the next two years and likely far sooner, we are going to lose the protections of Roe and Casey. Through state legislation, the appointment of hundreds of anti-abortion federal judges, and the rapidly changing makeup of the Supreme Court, reproductive freedom has never been in more dire straits. Legal titans Kathryn Kolbert and Julie F. Kay share the story of one of the most divisive issues in American politics through behind-the-scenes personal narratives of the stunning losses and hard-earned victories in landmark abortion rights cases. They chronicle how a convergence of Supreme Court appointments and the strategies of political movements on both sides of this contentious debate have led us to a make-or-break moment for legal abortion in the United States. Most urgently, they propose a bold new strategy for engaging a fresh generation and broadening the scope of abortion rights supporters.
Roe: The History of a National Obsession by Ziegler, Mary.
Call Number: HQ 767.5 .U5 Z544 2023
ISBN: 9780300266108
Publication Date: 2023
Over its half-century of public life, the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision took on meanings that extended far beyond its original purpose of protecting the privacy of the doctor-patient relationship. At various times, it forced us to confront hard questions about judicial activism and restraint, the believability of science, racial justice, the suppression of religion, and much more. In this book, author Mary Ziegler explores the transformations of meaning that have kept abortion on the front lines of our political and social battles.

Relevant Websites

Abortion is a very contentious issue, with philosophical and religious components in addition to the legal aspects that have been the focus of recent media coverage. When visiting any website sponsored by an advocacy organization, be prepared to sort through the information they're presenting with their biases in mind. Truly thorough research requires investigating multiple sides of any topic, and collecting data from a variety of sources.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) -- An organization of lawyers and others who work in the courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to all people in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States. Abortion and reproductive freedom are just two of the many civil rights issues the ACLU works on. For a timeline of U.S. Supreme Court decisions on abortion that the ACLU has been involved in, click here.

Americans United for Life -- A pro-life advocacy organization that supports legislation and court cases whose goal is to eliminate abortion.

Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) -- You may be surprised to learn that the CDC works on other health issues besides COVID-19! In addition to collecting data about diseases, the CDC also keeps track of a variety of other medical conditions and procedures. Visit this page for statistics on the number and types of abortions performed, going back to 1980.

Guttmacher Institute -- A research and policy organization committed to advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights worldwide. Visit this site for statistics, infographics, articles, and videos about abortion, birth control, and other reproductive health issues.

Ms. magazine -- Since its launch in 1971, Ms. magazine has documented and supported feminist causes, including access to abortion and birth control.

NARAL Pro-Choice America -- Originally founded as the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws, NARAL works to protect reproductive freedom by fighting for access to abortion care, birth control, paid parental leave, and protection against pregnancy discrimination.

NRLC National Right-to-Life Committee -- Founded in 1968, National Right-to-Life is the nation's oldest and largest pro-life organization, encompassing 50 state right-to-life affiliates and more than 3,000 local chapters. Through education and legislation, NRLC's goal is to "restore legal protection to the most defenseless members of our society, who are threatened by abortion, infanticide, assisted suicide, and euthanasia."

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services -- Federal government agency that oversees health insurance-related programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act, as well as other government entities having to do with health and medicine. Visit this site for information about reproductive rights under federal law, and funding available to support women's health care.

Online Videos

Films on Demand provides access to a wide variety of current and historical documentary films, interviews, and news programs. The titles below are just a selection to get you started. Be sure to visit the database yourself and search for more videos!

Abortion: Ancient and Modern -- This documentary explores the ethical, legal, and religious dimensions of the abortion debate. It explains that in ancient times, the dangers of abortion for women were compared with the dangers of war for men, and little changed for thousands of years. Advances in medical technology have given us a window on the world of the womb as never before, but they have also raised critical questions about personhood, viability, selective abortion, and embryology.

Anti-Abortion Camp -- Stacey Dooley travels to California to meet Survivors, one of America's most extreme anti-abortion groups. Learning alongside them in the classroom, before witnessing them preach their pro-life message to both the public and mothers-to-be, can they persuade Stacey to join their controversial campaign?

Justice Harry A. Blackmun: Man of the Middle -- An in-depth look at the late U.S. Supreme Court justice who wrote the majority opinion in Roe v. Wade, the case that granted women constitutional protection for abortion. Blackmun outlines a typical day in the Supreme Court, explains his own definition of what the court’s role is in the life of Americans, and examines the issue of privacy, a word and concept not mentioned in the Constitution. In addition, Blackmun discusses the emotional and moral challenge of interpreting the Constitution today.

PBS NewsHour segment on states working to restrict abortion -- Judge Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court has many abortion rights advocates worried that the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision is in imminent peril. In many places the rollback of access is already steadily progressing. Amna Nawaz reports from South Dakota, one of four states that would immediately ban all abortions if Roe were overturned.

Right to Live, Right to Die -- Gloria Steinem, Joseph Califano, Rep. Henry Hyde, Phil Donahue, and others discuss the right to make intensely individual decisions about dying, abortion, personal freedom and privacy.