Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Discipline
Articles 1 - 12 of 12
Full-Text Articles in Law
Life, Heartbeat, Birth: A Medical Basis For Reform, David F. Forte
Life, Heartbeat, Birth: A Medical Basis For Reform, David F. Forte
Law Faculty Articles and Essays
This Article does not revisit the moral, legal, and constitutional critiques of the Court’s position [in Roe v. Wade]. The voluminous commentaries on the flaws in the Court’s opinions speak for themselves. Rather, this Article seeks to ground an expansion of the protection available to the unborn on the implicit principles underlying current Supreme Court doctrine, refined and modified by recent medical research on nature of pregnancy and human pre-natal development. It will argue that the State’s compelling interest in the protection of what the Court has called “potential life” ripens at an earlier point in time than what the …
Reply To Critics Of The Heartbeat Bill, David Forte
Reply To Critics Of The Heartbeat Bill, David Forte
Law Faculty Articles and Essays
Forte's reply to critics of HB 125 – The Heartbeat Bill (2011-2012) appears on the Catholic Conference of Ohio website.
Bridging The Great Divide—A Response To Linda Greenhouse And Reva B. Siegel's "Before (And After) Roe V. Wade: New Questions About Backlash", Lolita Buckner Inniss
Bridging The Great Divide—A Response To Linda Greenhouse And Reva B. Siegel's "Before (And After) Roe V. Wade: New Questions About Backlash", Lolita Buckner Inniss
Law Faculty Articles and Essays
This essay discusses the history of Roe v. Wade as recently addressed by Linda Greenhouse and Reva B. Siegel. Going beyond their assertions, I suggest that an additional, more encompassing inquiry focuses on what factors are implicated in the politics of abortion and how these factors relate to larger social, political, and cultural conflicts both before and after Roe. By naming party politics and the Catholic Church, Greenhouse and Siegel posit two crucial elements that shaped the abortion debate. I assert, however, that what is not discussed in their Article is the way numerous other factors have figured into the …
Memo On Revisions To Hb 125, David Forte
Memo On Revisions To Hb 125, David Forte
Law Faculty Articles and Essays
Forte's suggestions for revision to HB 125 – The Heartbeat Bill (2011-2012) appears on the Catholic Conference of Ohio website.
Contraception, Abortion, And Health Care Reform: Finding Appropriate Moral Ground, Dena S. Davis
Contraception, Abortion, And Health Care Reform: Finding Appropriate Moral Ground, Dena S. Davis
Law Faculty Articles and Essays
In this essay, I make the argument that abortion and contraception are fundamentally different actions that occupy fundamentally different moral space, and that justify fundamentally different political action. I conclude that, while it is morally licit, even morally obligatory, for people who believe that embryos are people like us, to attempt to impede access to abortion, it is morally illicit to attempt to block access to contraception (including sterilization).
A Sign Of Contradiction, David F. Forte
A Sign Of Contradiction, David F. Forte
Law Faculty Articles and Essays
Hadley Arkes offers a brilliant manifesto for natural law. In it, he suggests that judges do not pay enough attention to reason, that their realm of reason is too circumscribed—and he levels the criticism at both modern liberal and conservative judges. He urges them to reach out specifically to the principles of the natural law. Yet the judges resist the invitation. They seem always to have resisted the invitation. Why is that so? Why are natural law reasons resisted?, Arkes asks. Why do judges not seek a proper grounding of their judgment in natural law?
The Detention, Confinement, And Incarceration Of Pregnant Women For The Benefit Of Fetal Health, April L. Cherry
The Detention, Confinement, And Incarceration Of Pregnant Women For The Benefit Of Fetal Health, April L. Cherry
Law Faculty Articles and Essays
Section One of this Article discusses the effect of drug policy on the detention and confinement of pregnant women. This section also outlines three types of "fetal protection measures" that result in the detention, confinement, or incarceration of pregnant women in the name of fetal health and examines the legal rationales behind these mechanisms. Section One then questions whether detention is an effective way to reach the state's articulated goal of better fetal outcomes. Section Two offers a discussion of the constitutional rights at issue. This section addresses the ways in which detention violates two essential components of women's rights: …
The Puzzle Of Ivf, Dena S. Davis
The Puzzle Of Ivf, Dena S. Davis
Law Faculty Articles and Essays
This essay seeks to address a puzzling element of the current political and legal struggles over abortion in the United States: if, as pro-life activists insist, embryos are morally equivalent to born, living persons, then why do these activists not oppose in vitro fertilization (IVF) as aggressively as they oppose abortion? IVF accounts for a significant number of destroyed embryos. Constitutionally, IVF appears to be a much more vulnerable target than abortion. And yet, legislative and political attempts to attack and restrict IVF are few, while attempts to erode women's capability to terminate pregnancies are a constant feature of our …
A Feminist Understanding Of Sex-Selective Abortion: Solely A Matter Of Choice, April L. Cherry
A Feminist Understanding Of Sex-Selective Abortion: Solely A Matter Of Choice, April L. Cherry
Law Faculty Articles and Essays
This essay consists of five sections. The first section describes the problem of sex-selective abortion, including an analysis of sociological data regarding adult preference for male children and its current effects. Section Two discusses various philosophical paradigms and analyses of sex-selective abortion with the goal of developing a coherent philosophical base from which to argue for a policy regarding sex-selective abortion which furthers the goals of gender equality. Section Three addresses the constitutionality of sex-selective abortion prohibitions in light of the Supreme Court's pronouncement in Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey. Section Four outlines the liberal feminist response to …
"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 …
Love, Justice, And Power, David F. Forte
Love, Justice, And Power, David F. Forte
Law Faculty Articles and Essays
Abortion is the quintessential act of power.
The Road Not Taken: State Constitutions As An Alternative Source Of Protection For Reproductive Rights, Kevin F. O'Neill
The Road Not Taken: State Constitutions As An Alternative Source Of Protection For Reproductive Rights, Kevin F. O'Neill
Law Faculty Articles and Essays
Lawyers seeking constitutional protection for reproductive rights have relied almost exclusively on a liberty/privacy theory under the Federal Constitution. In the wake of Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, this theory may be seen as providing a floor of minimum protection-preventing states from banning abortion outright. But it is not strong enough to prevent states from enacting restrictions on the availability of abortion. Thus, the battle over reproductive rights may be seen as shifting from one phase ("Can abortion be banned?") to another ("How far can states go in restricting access to abortion'?"). If proponents of reproductive freedom are …