Overruling abortion rights could have much broader implications on Americans’ liberty

In anticipation of the Supreme Court’s hearing on Wednesday to consider Mississippi’s ban on abortions after 15 weeks, there has been much conversation about what will happen if the court’s conservatives overrule abortion rights cemented in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. In fact, the implications of such a ruling would go far beyond just abortion.

In Casey, the Supreme Court formulated an “undue burden” test to limit state regulation of abortion up to viability of a fetus, replacing the trimester formulation under Roe. But Casey also left a long trail of case law that has become legal precedent for decades.

Charles Fried, who served as solicitor general under President Ronald Reagan, offered a concise reminder of the broader implications in a New York Times op-ed. Casey, he writes, put the right to abortion “on a firmer constitutional basis: the dignity and autonomy of the pregnant woman and the equal rights of women more generally.”