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Amniocentesis, Coercion, And Privacy, Charles E. Rice

Journal Articles

The 1973 abortion decisions of the Supreme Court were based on a right of reproductive privacy which the Court in 1965 had discovered in certain elusive "penumbras formed by emanations from the Bill of Rights." This fictional right of privacy was used by the Court to declare unconstitutional virtually all state restrictions on abortion; according to the Court's rulings, the states have no effective power to prohibit abortion at any stage of pregnancy. Even in the third trimester, the state may not prohibit abortion where it is necessary "in appropriate medical judgment for the preservation of the life or health …