From Roe to Dobbs: The Fallen Road of Reproductive Liberty

Abstract

This paper examines the evolutionary change of reproductive rights throughout the legal precedents from Roe to Dobbs. From analyzing the development of the reproductive rights argument and its relation to the Due Process and Equal Protection Clause, this paper argues that while these cases seem to favor interpreting the Constitution in a more literal sense, they ironically drift away from the Fourteenth Amendment’s original intention of protecting the rights of people. With an emphasis on judicial interpretations on the rights to due process and liberty in the Fourteenth Amendment, the author seeks to provide a connection between precedents and legislative definitions with their embodiment of societal and religious expectations, where these connections reveal a more promising basis for abortion rights – the Equal Protection Clause.