A Letter From the Editor on the Topic of Abortion
There is arguably no more controversial subject in American politics and society over the past half century than Abortion. Ever since the 1973 United States Supreme Court decision of Roe v. Wade that guaranteed the right of women to have an abortion during the first trimester efforts have been made to curtail those rights, culminating this year in the pending Supreme Court case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, regarding the constitutionality of a 2018 Mississippi state law—the Gestational Age Act— which bans any abortion after the first 15 weeks of pregnancy except “in medical emergencies or for severe fetal abnormality.” Many legal experts consider this case to be a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade that, if overturned, the legal right to an abortion would revert to a states’ rights issue. Some states, such as California and New York, will guarantee full abortion on demand, while other states have passed laws that would ban abortion from the point of conception. An additional 21 states are poised to ban or severely curtail access to abortions if Roe v. Wade is overturned. This decision is expected to come down from the Supreme Court mid-2022, so we are publishing this special section on Abortion Matters to lay out the key terms of the debate under the banners of Pro-Choice and Pro-Life. We have done our best to present the best arguments on both sides so that readers can decide for themselves what they should think about this contentious issue.