A federal judge in Washington D.C. has questioned the Supreme Court’s recent landmark ruling on abortion rights. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, a former President Clinton appointee, has ordered lawyers to file briefings on whether the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects the right to “reproductive health services,” including abortion. The case being heard by Judge Kollar-Kotelly involves pro-life activists who are accused of blocking access to an abortion clinic in Washington, D.C.
In the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case, the Supreme Court held that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion. In writing for the majority, Justice Samuel Alito stated that the Supreme Court’s previous ruling in Roe v. Wade was “egregiously wrong from the start.” However, Judge Kollar-Kotelly has stated that the Supreme Court has not considered if the 13th Amendment, which outlaws slavery and involuntary servitude, could confer a right to abortion. She has cited legal scholars who have argued that forced pregnancy violates personal liberty and that restrictions on abortion also violate the Amendment’s guarantee of equality.
The case before Judge Kollar-Kotelly involves criminal charges against ten pro-life activists who are charged with violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act. The act makes it a federal crime to use threats, force, or physical obstruction to prevent people from accessing or providing services at reproductive health care clinics. One of the defendants, Lauren Handy, has argued that her charges should be dismissed because the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision stated that the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion. However, Judge Kollar-Kotelly has stated that this argument is based on a “false legal premise” and that federal law regulates a broad category of “reproductive health services,” including counseling and referral services provided by abortion clinics.
Judge Kollar-Kotelly has ordered lawyers to file briefings to explore the scope of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision and whether any other provision of the Constitution could confer a right to abortion. The judge has stated that the Dobbs decision may not be the final pronouncement on the issue, leaving an open question. The ongoing debate on abortion rights continues to create legal and political tensions in the United States.
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Federal judge suggests Constitution protects abortion rights, despite Dobbs decision