Demonstrations outside the U.S. Supreme Court on the day of arguments in the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, No. 19- 1392, challenging a Mississippi law enacted in 2018 that bans abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, on Dec. 1, 2021. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM
Friday’s U.S. Supreme Court opinion overturning two landmark precedents enshrining abortion as a constitutional right quickly sparked a firestorm of commentary from the legal community.
Critics of the opinion accused the conservative justices of going back on their word to respect stare decisis—or the principle of abiding by previous precedent—and said the opinion threatens other rights, such as the right to privacy, birth control, sex between consenting adults in their own home, and same-sex marriage.
