ABSTRACT
For 20 years, United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Byron White has held that the state has a compelling interest in preserving the life of the fetus. It follows that he also wants to set aside the Court’s 1972 decision, Roe v. Wade, 410 US 113. The parties on appeal in Thornburgh were the Governor of Pennsylvania, the District Attorney from Montgomery County and other administrative officials. Dissenting in Thornburgh and joined by Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Justice White argued that the Supreme Court is bound to correct plain errors in its prior reviews. In arguing to overrule Roe v. Wade, Justice White identified two tests as to whether increased judicial scrutiny should apply to regulation of a pregnant woman’s unenumerated liberty to choose an abortion. Justice White observed in his Thornburgh dissent that “the termination of a pregnancy typically involves the destruction of another entity: the fetus”.
