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Would a Federal Law Legalizing Abortion Survive the Supreme Court?

Would a Federal Law Legalizing Abortion Survive the Supreme Court?
Abortion-rights demonstrators protest in front of the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., on May 10, 2022. Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images
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Commentary

Leading Democrats have announced that they want a federal statute overruling state laws that restrict abortion. In other words, they want Congress to legalize nearly unrestricted abortion nationwide. Obviously, such a law would intrude into an area of social policy traditionally left to the states.

Rob Natelson
Rob Natelson
Author
Robert G. Natelson, a former constitutional law professor who is senior fellow in constitutional jurisprudence at the Independence Institute in Denver, authored “The Original Constitution” (4th ed., 2025). He is a contributor to the Heritage Foundation’s “Heritage Guide to the Constitution.”
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