In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs, legislative and court battles over abortion have largely shifted to the various states, beginning a new phase for the pro-life movement in America. In today’s battles to defend unborn life, we face a complex and rapidly evolving legal landscape—with new legislative opportunities to limit abortion, but also new arguments and issues under debate in state legislatures and courts. Abortion advocates are now attempting, for example, to construe supposed abortion rights in privacy or equal protection provisions of state constitutions—much as they did at the federal level until Dobbs overturned this bad precedent.
A team of scholars at EPPC has prepared this series of papers, Defending Life After Dobbs, to equip lawmakers and legislative staffers, lawyers, and scholars to defend unborn life in this new landscape. Based on the best available scholarship, the papers in this series are deliberately brief distillations of complex issues, accessible to non-specialists who may lack the time or expertise to wade through lengthy law review articles or philosophical papers in the scholarly literature. Each article deals with a different issue or argument now active in the state courts and legislatures and includes a brief bibliography for further reading.
