Rewire: Why So-Called Personhood Laws Are the Next Big Threat After ‘Roe’ Falls

Why So-Called Personhood Laws Are the Next Big Threat After ‘Roe’ Falls

By Julie F. Kay

The leak of a draft Supreme Court opinion confirms that the Court’s conservative supermajority is poised to bring Roe v. Wade to an end by the summer. Abortion laws will then be determined on a state-by-state basis without any federal constitutional protections.

By removing the federal constitutional protection of abortion rights, the Court will lay a pathway for anti-abortion state officials to be as extreme as they can in limiting abortion access, including equating the life of a pregnant person with that of their fetus. States like Oklahoma have already been chomping at the bit to pass just such a fetal “personhood” law.