Reproductive Autonomy Flashcards
Buck v. Bell? Can we sterilize?
Upheld ability of gov. to involuntarily sterilize mentally retarded
• Court held right to procreate not fundamental right==Found Virginia had rational basis for public health and morals to not allow retards to procreate
Skinner v. Oklahoma?
• Unconstitutional for gov. to sterilize those convicted of two or more crimes involving moral turpitude
• Deprives certain individuals of a right which is basic to perpetuation of a race-the right to have offspring
• State failed to show that certain types of felonies were hereditary, or why only certain types of felonies triggered the rule
**Steralization= strict scrutiny, violates equal protection (irreversible injury)
Can you purchase contraceptives?
Yes!!!!! No babies for us
What happened in Griswald?
The Supreme Court declared unconstitutional a state law that prohibited the use and distribution of contraceptives
**Applied to everyone=no equal protection
• The right to privacy is a fundamental right →but Douglas refuses to address this right under due process-found in penumbra of bill of rights
• Douglas focuses on the need to protect the privacy of the bedroom and the inability to control information about contraceptive use→but he doesn’t focus on the right to avoid procreation or to make reproductive choices
• State says=reinforces ban in illicit sexual relationships BUT what does that have to do with not allowing married couples to use birth control
**Goldberg Concurring=use the 9th
What happened in Eisenstadt v. Baird?
Equal protection applying rational basis→WHY? Probably political and pragmatic and not because privacy isn’t a fundamental right
• The statute in question prohibits distributing contraceptives to unmarried individuals and only allowed physicians to distribute them to married persons
• This is equal protection because it denies single people rights
• If privacy means anything it is the right of the individual, married or single to be free from unwarranted gov. intrusion
What happened in Roe v. Wade?
Women have a right to privacy and abortion before viability and that gov. regulation of abortions must meet strict scrutiny
• Prior to the first trimester=woman has right to privacy
• After first trimester=state can impose regulations (so long as they don’t place undue burden on access to abortion)
• After viability=state has an interest in fetus’s life (can restrict except for health reasons)
• State can have dual interests in protecting fetus’s life and the mother’s life
What happened in Planned Parenthood v. Casey?
Reject the trimester framework of Roe v. Wade
• Undue Burden Test=invalidates a provision of a law if its purpose or effect is to place a substantial obstacle in the path of a woman seeking an abortion before the fetus attains viability (can require some stuff but not a lot)
• Only part not legit=spousal consent and notification bc gives husband degree of authority over wife that is not permissible
• Anytime before viability a woman has a right to choose to terminate her pregnancy
