Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1971
Publication Information
2 N.D. Leg. 2 (1971-1972)
Abstract
During 1971, the drive for liberalized abortion laws stalled after achieving rapid successes in the preceding four years. The law in most American states still allows abortion only where, it is necessary to save the life of the mother. Since 1967, however, sixteen states have relaxed their laws to provide that abortions may now be performed in varying situations where the life of the mother is not at stake. Some states, such as New York, allow abortions virtually on request. In other states, laws forbidding abortion have been declared unconstitutional by the courts. During 1971, no further liberalization was enacted in any state. And there was a serious effort, in New York and other states, to tighten and even repeal the liberalizing statutes. The result was a legislative standoff that is likely to continue through the 1972 sessions.
It is time to amend the United States Constitution to make its guarantee of equal protection of the laws applicable to the child in the womb. This could be done by inserting the phrase "from the moment of conception" into the Fourteenth Amendment, so that it would read "nor shall any state ... deny to any person, from the moment of conception, within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." Under any proper construction, the Constitution already gives this protection to the child in the womb. But it ought to be made specific for two reasons: First, to prevent any possible misconstruction that would permit the child in the womb, unlike his elder brethren, to be killed for the convenience of others; second, and more important, to serve an educational purpose through the campaign for amendment to carry the issue to the American people and to afford them a clear opportunity to choose life over death.
Recommended Citation
Charles E. Rice,
Equal Protection for the Child in the Womb,
2 N.D. Leg. 2 (1971-1972).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/law_faculty_scholarship/143
Comments
Reprinted with permission of ND Journal of Legislation (previously New Dimensions in Legislation).