{"id":284963,"date":"2023-02-07T14:37:14","date_gmt":"2023-02-07T20:37:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=284963"},"modified":"2023-02-07T14:00:50","modified_gmt":"2023-02-07T20:00:50","slug":"federal-judge-13th-amendment-right-abortion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/federal-judge-13th-amendment-right-abortion\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal judge says 13th Amendment – which abolished slavery – may contain ‘right to abortion’"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

In a February 6 <\/span>order<\/span><\/a> in the federal <\/span>case<\/span><\/a> against 10 pro-life activists who were indicted for entering a DC abortion facility in October 2020, U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly asserts that a right to abortion might be inherent to the U.S. Constitution, in spite of the Supreme Court\u2019s recent decision in <\/span>Dobbs v. Jackson Women\u2019s Health Organization<\/span><\/i>, which overturned <\/span>Roe v. Wade<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>found<\/span><\/a> that \u201c[t]he Constitution does not confer a right to abortion.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c[T]he \u2018issue\u2019 before the Court in <\/span>Dobbs<\/span><\/i> was not whether <\/span>any<\/span><\/i> provision of the Constitution provided a right to abortion. Rather, the question before the Court in <\/span>Dobbs<\/span><\/i> was whether the <\/span>Fourteenth Amendment<\/span><\/i> to the Constitution provided such a right,\u201d Kollar-Kotelly <\/span>wrote<\/span><\/a>. \u201c[I]t is entirely possible that the Court might have held in <\/span>Dobbs<\/span><\/i> that some other provision of the Constitution provided a right to access reproductive services had <\/span>that<\/span><\/i> issue been raised. However, it was not raised.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Kollar-Kotelly pointed toward the Thirteenth Amendment as a \u201cprovision[] that might contain some right to access [abortion],\u201d noting that it \u201chas received substantial attention among scholars.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One such scholar is Andrew Koppelman, John Paul Stevens Professor of Law at Northwestern University. He argued that the Thirteenth Amendment provides for a right to abortion in an <\/span>op-ed<\/span><\/a> for The Hill: \u201c[A]ntebellum slavery \u2026 was a bundle of wrongs: inability to move freely, to command one\u2019s own labor, etc. Compulsory pregnancy was one of the worst of those. The 13th Amendment outlaws the whole bundle.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Walgreens<\/a><\/p>\n

Howard University School of Law professor Lisa Crooms-Robinson has made a similar argument. In an <\/span>op-ed<\/span><\/a> for NBC News, she argued: \u201cDenying the rights of reproductive health and choice, bodily integrity and personal autonomy was essential to U.S. slavery, which recognized enslavers\u2019 complete dominion over the people they enslaved.\u201d She added: \u201cU.S. slavery also forced enslaved women to reproduce.\u201d Hence, she argues, the Thirteenth Amendment, in seeking to \u201cundo[] slavery, as well as its \u2018badges and incidents,\u2019\u201d could be interpreted to include a right to abortion for Black Americans.<\/span><\/p>\n

But Faith Elwonger and Omarr Peters argued differently in an <\/span>op-ed<\/span><\/a> for Newsweek:<\/span><\/p>\n

The idea that Congress should utilize the 13th Amendment to grant Black Americans the right to an abortion as a “matter of racial equality” is insulting to the core. It’s based on a racist premise that without the ability to kill our children, we Black Americans cannot be equal to other races, who apparently can be successful without having to “off” their offspring.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Such a bigoted idea is an affront to Black people and a slight to every Black American who came before us and paved the way towards equality.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Judge Kollar-Kotelly <\/span>directed<\/span><\/a> both the prosecution and defense to address \u201cwhether the scope of <\/span>Dobbs<\/span><\/i> is in fact confined to the Fourteenth Amendment\u201d as well as \u201cwhether \u2026 any other provision of the Constitution could confer a right to abortion \u2026 such that <\/span>Dobbs<\/span><\/i> may or may not be the final pronouncement on the issue[.]\u201d\u00a0Judge Kollar-Kotelly did so in response to a motion to dismiss submitted by Lauren Handy’s attorneys, who argued that the conspiracy charge against their client is now illegitimate because\u00a0Dobbs<\/i> removed abortion legislation from Congress’s purview.<\/span><\/p>\n

The deadline for the government to file its response is March 3; the deadline for the defense to file their reply is March 17.<\/span><\/p>\n

Did you know that as little as $10 a month is enough to reach more than 3,000 moms and dads with the truth about abortion this year? Click here to start saving lives 365 days a year.<\/strong><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a February 6 order in the federal case against 10 pro-life activists who were indicted for entering a DC abortion facility in October 2020, U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly asserts that a right to abortion might be inherent to the U.S. Constitution, in spite of the Supreme Court\u2019s recent decision in Dobbs v. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":788,"featured_media":284982,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nFederal judge says 13th Amendment - which abolished slavery - may contain 'right to abortion'<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The judge told the prosecution and defense attorneys to find \u201cwhether\u2026 any other provision of the Constitution could confer a right to abortion."\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/federal-judge-13th-amendment-right-abortion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Federal judge says 13th Amendment - which abolished slavery - may contain 'right to abortion'\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The judge told the prosecution and defense attorneys to find \u201cwhether\u2026 any other provision of the Constitution could confer a right to abortion."\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/federal-judge-13th-amendment-right-abortion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-02-07T20:37:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-02-07T20:00:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/GettyImages-1287306841-constitution.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"650\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bettina di Fiore\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bettina di Fiore\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/federal-judge-13th-amendment-right-abortion\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/federal-judge-13th-amendment-right-abortion\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Bettina di Fiore\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/189f8a60121ec1992ae74917a7134f0f\"},\"headline\":\"Federal judge says 13th Amendment – which abolished slavery – may contain ‘right to abortion’\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-02-07T20:37:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-07T20:00:50+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/federal-judge-13th-amendment-right-abortion\/\"},\"wordCount\":606,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Issues\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/federal-judge-13th-amendment-right-abortion\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/federal-judge-13th-amendment-right-abortion\/\",\"name\":\"Federal judge says 13th Amendment - 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