ABSTRACT
The United States Supreme Court’s dramatic decision in Planned Parenthood v. Casey underscores and exacerbates deep divisions within the Court and the nation regarding abortion, implied fundamental rights, and the role of the judiciary in a constitutional republic. A prestigious group of legal scholars and a significant number of Supreme Court Justices have viewed the right of privacy as a vehicle for furthering the value of individual autonomy. The Court recognized that the “ability independently to define one’s identity that is central to any concept of liberty” cannot truly be exercised in a vacuum; we all depend on the “emotional enrichment from close ties with others.” The Supreme Court therefore was asked whether a woman who conspires to block abortion facilities out of a sincere desire to stop what she views as “child-killing” is actually motivated, as a matter of law, by an invidious intent to subjugate or discriminate against women.
