The Law: Abortion and Privacy

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The core of the argument against anti-abortion laws is that every woman has a fundamental right to decide what happens to her own body, at least until after the quickening of the fetus. In recent years a few courts have given a sympathetic hearing to this argument, but legal reformers have kept trying to get a clear-cut judicial declaration that women are constitutionally entitled to a freedom of medical choice. Last week a three-judge federal court sitting in New Jersey provided exactly that.

In a 2-1 decision, the court said flatly, "We hold that a woman has a constitutional right of privacy under the Ninth and 14th Amendments to determine for herself whether to bear a child." In the early stages of gestation, the court decided, "a mother's right transcends that of the embryo."

Up to now, New Jersey officials have permitted abortions only if a mother's life or health was threatened. The judges' decision means that all abortion prosecutions in the state will probably be suspended pending an appeal. Until that is settled, however, anyone performing an abortion would still be liable to prosecution if the decision is reversed.