Will It Provoke a Civil War? The Supreme Court’s Repudiation of the 1973 Decision on Abortion

Will It Provoke a Civil War? The Supreme Court’s Repudiation of the 1973 Decision on Abortion
Pro-abortion activists protest in Portland, Ore., on June 24, 2022, following the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. John Rudoff/AFP via Getty Images
Ian Gentles
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Commentary

By illegally publishing the draft decision of the Supreme Court several months before the final version was released, someone within the Court unleashed a firestorm of controversy in the United States. Demonstrations and counter-demonstrations erupted all over the country. The homes of the justices believed to have supported the repeal of the 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade were picketed. An alleged attempt was made on the life of one of them.

Ian Gentles
Ian Gentles
Author
Ian Gentles is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society and distinguished professor of history and global affairs at Tyndale University in Toronto. He is the co-author of "Complications: Abortion’s Impact on Women" (2nd ed., 2018), published by the deVeber Institute for Bioethics in Toronto.
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