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

Paragraph 3 of 3

Sentence 4 of 4

To close out Part II we get a sentence with a single claim:

“Nothing in the Constitution or in our Nation’s legal traditions authorizes the Court to adopt that ‘“theory of life.”’ Post, at 8.”

And here’s the cited passage in the dissent:

“Some half-century ago, Roe struck down a state law making it a crime to perform an abortion unless its purpose was to save a woman’s life. The Roe Court knew it was treading on difficult and disputed ground. It understood that different people’s ‘experiences,’ ‘values,’ and ‘religious training’ and beliefs led to ‘opposing views’ about abortion. 410 U.S., at 116. But by a 7-to-2 vote, the Court held that in the earlier stages of pregnancy, that contested and contestable choice must belong to a woman, in consultation with her family and doctor. The Court explained that a long line of precedents, ‘founded in the Fourteenth Amendment’s concept of personal liberty,’ protected individual decisionmaking related to ‘marriage, procreation, contraception, family relationships, and child rearing and education.’ Id., at 152–153 (citations omitted). For the same reasons, the Court held, the Constitution must protect ‘a woman’s decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy.’ Id., at 153. The Court recognized the myriad ways bearing a child can alter the ‘life and future’ of a woman and other members of her family. Ibid. A State could not, ‘by adopting one theory of life,’ override all ‘rights of the pregnant woman.’ Id., at 162.”

Because I’m feeling expansive as this section ends, I’ve included the whole paragraph leading to the referenced quote, and the way this paragraph develops makes me think that the phrase “theory of life” isn’t doing in the dissent what the majority wants it to.

Regardless, there’s a lot of work to do before I can call this one way or the other. This claim is undetermined:

• “Nothing in the Constitution or in our Nation’s legal traditions authorizes the Court to adopt that ‘“theory of life.”’”