Religion, Abortion, & Law: An Analysis of How Religiously Informed Conceptions of Personhood Shape U.S. Supreme Court Rulings on Abortion Pubblico
Samuels, Elizabeth (Spring 2020)
Abstract
Has religion covertly become an integral part of American abortion and reproductive health law despite the formal constitutional separation of Church and State? If so, How? And what might we learn from an investigation into whether and how religious conceptions of personhood have been transferred from conservative Christian contexts to national abortion law? To answer this interlocking set of questions, I traced the advent of America’s Religious Right and their role in creating the modern anti-abortion advocacy movement. I then analyzed nine Supreme Court rulings that form the legal framework for our nation’s status quo regarding abortion. I found that while many liberal Justices acknowledge the role religion plays in informing deeply held conceptions of personhood, they defer to secular arguments and argue that the Court’s neutral role requires the upholding of abortion’s legality. Conversely, conservative Justices have increasingly emphasized the personhood of the fetus while denying the role of religion in informing anti-abortion views. Their strategy mirrors that of the anti-abortion advocacy movement. I argue that through the use of language and argumentation containing implicit religious sentiments, conservative Christian understandings of personhood (i.e., that life begins at conception) have had great and lasting impact on restricting women’s access to abortion. And that although in name a neutral and impartial institution, the Supreme Court reflects the proliferation of conservative Christian notions at the highest level, impacting all jurisprudence and laws below it. I conclude by arguing that the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause is an important legal avenue by which this undue influence on abortion law should be challenged.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction………………………………………………………………..1
ϖ Research Question……………………………………………………………..1
ϖ Method and Theory……………………………………………………….……2
Chapter 2: Background, Literature Review, Where my Research Fits………………...7
ϖ Background………………………………………………………………..........7
ϖ Literature Review……………………………………………………………....10
ϖ Where my Research Fits………………………………………………………..22
Chapter 3: The Religious Right and the Anti-Abortion Movement……………….……27
Chapter 4: Supreme Court Opinions and Findings……………………………………...38
ϖ Roe v. Wade (1973) …………………………………………………………….38
ϖ Maher v. Roe (1977) ……………………………………………………………43
ϖ Harris v. McRae (1980) ………………………………………………………...45
ϖ Akron v. Akron Center for Reproductive Health (1983) ……………………….50
ϖ Thornburgh v. American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists (1986) …..52
ϖ Webster v. Reproductive Health Services (1989) ………………………………57
ϖ Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey (1992) …………...62
ϖ Gonzales v. Carhart (2007) ……………………………………………………..67
ϖ Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt (2016) ………………………………….73
Chapter 5: Conclusions…………………………………………………………………..76
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