“Given the potential for abortion to become a tool of eugenic manipulation, the Court will soon need to confront the constitutionality of laws like Indiana’s,” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in his
State abortion laws might have an easier path to the Supreme Court after Justice Clarence Thomas said on Tuesday that rulings on the constitutionality of such legislation is needed “soon.”
In its first major reproductive health case since the appointment of conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the Supreme Court issued an ambivalent review of a 2016 Indiana abortion law signed by then-Governor Mike Pence.
The court rule reinstated Indiana’s fetal burial provision, but refused to hear the state’s appeal to revive a measure banning abortion based on fetal disability, sex or race. The reasoning for declining to take on the case was that no other circuit court had ruled on the subject.
While Thomas agreed with the court’s decision, he wrote in a concurring opinion that the bench will have to start ruling on abortion-related cases in the near future. The comment comes amid a flurry of strict anti-abortion measures passed in conservative states, many of which already face legal challenges from the American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood.
