Justice Sotomayor Wrong about Abortion and Religion

How do we as a body politic know when human life begins? And, where is it appropriate for the law to look in making that determination?

Justice Sonia Sotomayor brought this issue to the fore last week during oral arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health. In a contentious session that lasted nearly two hours, the justices and advocates focused mostly on whether the U.S. Supreme Court should overturn Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the Court’s two landmark decisions on abortion. The issue of defining human life, one avoided by these cases, arose in an exchange between Justice Sotomayor and Mississippi solicitor general Scott Stewart, who was defending his state’s ban on abortions after 15 weeks’ gestation.

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Adam M. Carrington

Adam M. Carrington is an associate professor of politics at Hillsdale College.

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How do we as a body politic know when human life begins? And, where is it appropriate for the law to look in making that determination?

Justice Sonia Sotomayor brought this issue to the fore last week during oral arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health. In a contentious session that lasted nearly two hours, the justices and advocates focused mostly on whether the U.S. Supreme Court should overturn Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the Court’s two landmark decisions on abortion. The issue of defining human life, one avoided by these cases, arose in an exchange between Justice Sotomayor and Mississippi solicitor general Scott Stewart, who was defending his state’s ban on abortions after 15 weeks’ gestation.