Published July 19, 2023
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs, legislative and court battles over abortion have largely shifted to the various states, beginning a new phase for the pro-life movement in America. In today’s battles to defend unborn life, we face a complex and rapidly evolving legal landscape—with new legislative opportunities to limit abortion, but also new arguments and issues under debate in state legislatures and courts. Abortion advocates are now attempting, for example, to construe supposed abortion rights in privacy or equal protection provisions of state constitutions—much as they did at the federal level until Dobbs overturned this bad precedent.
A team of scholars at EPPC has prepared this series of papers, Defending Life After Dobbs, to equip lawmakers and legislative staffers, lawyers, and scholars to defend unborn life in this new landscape. Based on the best available scholarship, the papers in this series are deliberately brief distillations of complex issues, accessible to non-specialists who may lack the time or expertise to wade through lengthy law review articles or philosophical papers in the scholarly literature. Each article deals with a different issue or argument now active in the state courts and legislatures and includes a brief bibliography for further reading.
Women and Abortion
Abortion and Mental Health
Evidence suggests that abortion has no benefits for women’s mental health and in fact can worsen mental-health outcomes.
Responding to Autonomy Arguments for Abortion Rights
Why the argument from bodily autonomy fails to justify the practice of abortion.
Abortion and Women’s Equality
On why abortion does not advance equality for women.
Discriminatory Abortion
Is Disability-Based Abortion Justifiable?
The widespread practice of abortion on grounds of disability or fetal anomaly sees the history of eugenics repeating itself.
Addressing Sex Discrimination & Equal Protection Abortion Arguments
Some state courts are now relying on faulty legal reasoning to justify abortion.
Abortion and Fetal Anomalies
The response of a truly just and decent society to the reality of serious prenatal diagnosis is compassion, not to use lethal violence to kill the one who suffers.
Sex-Selective Abortion
The practice of selectively aborting girls is happening not just abroad but also in the U.S.
Abortion on Grounds of Disability
The dilemma facing parents of unborn children diagnosed with disabilities—whether or not to have an abortion—raises profound questions about the meaning of parenthood.
Chemical Abortion
Abortion Pill Reversal
A safe and effective way to halt in-progress chemical abortions.
Psychological Effects of Chemical Abortion
Evidence suggests that the experience of chemical abortion poses particular difficulties for women.
Other Topics
Is Viability the Appropriate Dividing Line for Permitting Abortion?
The unborn child does not need to be able to live outside the womb to deserve legal protection.
Abortion and the Obscurity of Language
Clarity of language leads to clarity of thought, which is necessary for clear moral analysis.
