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"Life" And "Liberty": Their Original Meaning, Historical Antecedents, And Current Significance In The Debate Over Abortion Rights, Sheldon Gelman
"Life" And "Liberty": Their Original Meaning, Historical Antecedents, And Current Significance In The Debate Over Abortion Rights, Sheldon Gelman
Law Faculty Articles and Essays
The legal controversy over abortion has been a dispute about constitutional “liberty.” Constitutional debate has ranged far and wide over questions of natural law, interpretative method, and judicial function, yet liberty remains the focal point. It is widely believed that if abortion and privacy rights derive from anything in the Constitution, they derive from “liberty,” and that if anything in the Constitution tells us how to treat those rights, “liberty” does. Part I outlines the present day controversy over liberty and abortion, including the multiple, conflicting opinions in Casey. Part II examines the phrase “life, liberty, or property,” and the …