Essay In What Ways Did The Supreme Court Shape Women's Reproductive Rights

Section 1: Identification and Evaluation of Sources

This investigation will examine the research question: “In What Ways did the Supreme Court Shape Women’s Reproductive Rights in the Time Period 1973 to 2007?”.

In 1997, the Supreme Court’s decision in Schenck v. Pro-Choice Network of Western New York concerning women’s access to abortion clinics relates to this investigation as it gives insight into the previous accessibility of abortion clinics and the Court’s ensuing influence. The Supreme Court case of Thornburgh v. Amer. Coll. of Obstetricians in 1986 is relevant to this investigation as it focuses on states’ and doctors’ infringement on women’s reproductive rights, especially concerning women’s privacy, causing the Court’s involvement,

Amer. Coll. of Obstetricians is a value to my investigation of the Supreme Court’s influence on women’s reproductive rights as it directly describes the proceedings of the 1986 case, wherein states and physicians infringed upon a patient’s privacy. The case provides a precise explanation of the events, clearly stating which provisions were deemed constitutional. The origin of the case is a limitation as it simply states the facts of the case, not discussing any public reactions that resulted from the proceedings, limiting my ability to evaluate how successful the decision to protect individual privacy was. The purpose of the case is a value to my investigation as its verdict resulted in paramount reproductive independencies, demonstrating the Court’s authority over human freedoms, paired with progressiveness towards individual liberties. The content of the case is a value to my investigation as it includes several provisions expanding women’s rights, including the need for privacy, removal of limitations on the frequency of abortions and the attempts to save fetuses, demonstrating the severe lack of rights in 1985, necessitating revisions. The contents of this case is a limitation as it discusses the involvement of states and physicians to halt abortions, subsequently not focusing on actual limitations of reproductive rights, including cases in which abortion was illegal. This fails to demonstrate the full scope of restrictions on women’s rights

This case would serve as a turning point in determining the extent to which a woman’s reproductive rights should be left to her discretion. Similarly, on the same day that Roe v. Wade was decided, Doe v. Bolton was decided, concerning Georgia’s severe abortion restrictions, which limited abortions to rape, a highly disabled fetus, or a threat to the woman’s health. In both cases, the Court agreed that “women’s rights to abortion outweighed states’ rights to regulate abortions”. As a result, these two cases aided in the establishment of the access of abortions for women, with a set precedent utilized in later cases. Finally, the last case of the 70’s to expand upon women’s reproductive rights was the case Bellotti v. Baird. This case voided a Massachusetts law that required unmarried minors to obtain consent of both parents in order to get an abortion. Such a restriction essentially gave parents the power to veto their child’s abortion. A major change that resulted from this decision was the option for the minor in question to prove their maturity with a physician’s consultation, allowing her to go through with an abortion. All three of the aforementioned cases support the notion that the Supreme Court played a pivotal role in revolutionizing women’s reproductive rights durings the 1970s as they furthered the right to a woman’s privacy, extended the situations