The recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the Mississippi abortion case, Dobbs, v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization did more than simply deny women the right to decide their own health care issues, it denied them full citizenship in the political community of our nation. By stating that the “Constitution does not confer a right to abortion” the decision has rendered women no longer full citizens and has subsequently, denied them the status required to have the “right to have rights.” How is this so?
To begin with, having to decide to have an abortion is a decision that only a woman will have to make, because it is a unique aspect of the fact that only women can become pregnant. No man will ever experience giving birth to another human being. The subsequent moral problem of having to decide whether or not to terminate that pregnancy, no matter what the reason, is the personal choice of a single individual. It will never be a group decision, a decision made by two, three or any other number of people. It is one of the most private and solemn decisions any woman will ever make. As such, it is a fundamental question of personal freedom.
Secondly, by taking away this right to control over one’s very material and moral existence, women have been driven beyond the pale of the law. By depriving them of the right to exist as self-determining individuals, they have, de facto, been deprived of the very status as full-fledged citizens to have “the right to have rights.”
