As always, you can find the Dobbs v. Jackson decision here.

Paragraph 3 of 11

Sentence 1 of 2

The next paragraph starts with a sentence containing two claims:

“Not only are respondents and their amici unable to show that a constitutional right to abortion was established when the Fourteenth Amendment was adopted, but they have found no support for the existence of an abortion right that predates the latter part of the 20th century—no state constitutional provision, no statute, no judicial decision, no learned treatise.”

The claims:

• “[R]espondents and their amici [are] unable to show that a constitutional right to abortion was established when the Fourteenth Amendment was adopted.”
• Respondents “have found no support for the existence of an abortion right that predates the latter part of the 20th century—no state constitutional provision, no statute, no judicial decision, no learned treatise.”

The first claim will require some work just to round up what’s been established within this document—let alone the cited support. The second claim is even more complicated. For one thing, it asserts a negative, which is difficult to confirm. On the other hand, it lays out exactly what it considers legitimate support for the respondents’ claims. Apparently the Dobbs Court would be satisfied if the respondents produced either a “state constitutional provision,” a “statute,” a “judicial decision,” or a “learned treatise.” Has nobody produced any of those things? And are those the only acceptable kinds of support?

Simple claims, but nothing to blindly accept. These are undetermined:

• “[R]espondents and their amici [are] unable to show that a constitutional right to abortion was established when the Fourteenth Amendment was adopted.”
• Respondents “have found no support for the existence of an abortion right that predates the latter part of the 20th century—no state constitutional provision, no statute, no judicial decision, no learned treatise.”