Justice Ginsburg Discusses Abortion Rights, Women On Supreme Court In NYT Magazine Interview

Main Category: Abortion
Also Included In: Women's Health / Gynecology;  Litigation / Medical Malpractice
Article Date: 10 Jul 2009 - 5:00 PDT

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In an interview to be published in this weekend's New York Times Magazine, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg discusses the role of female justices on the court, including the effect on issues related to reproductive rights.

When asked if "part of a future feminists legal wish list" could include "repositioning Roe [v. Wade] so that the right to abortion is rooted in the constitutional promise of sex equality," Ginsburg replied, "I think it will be." In response to a follow-up question on what Ginsburg would want to see accomplished in future feminist legal agenda, she said, "Reproductive choice has to be straightened out." She later clarified that she meant that the "basic thing is that the government has no business making that choice for any woman." Ginsburg said that there "will never be a woman of means without choice anymore" and that the "states that had changed their abortion laws before Roe (to make abortion legal) are not going to change it back." However, "we have a policy that only affects poor women, and it can never be otherwise, and I don't know why this hasn't been said more often," she said. She continued that she was "surprised" by the Supreme Court's 1980 ruling in Harris v. McRae, which upheld the Hyde Amendment prohibiting states from using federal Medicaid funds to pay for abortion.

Ginsburg also discussed state restrictions on abortion rights, such as waiting periods, and other limits to accessing the procedure. She added that the "possibility of stopping a pregnancy very early is significant" and predicted that emergency contraception "will become more accessible and easier to take." Ginsburg said, "So I think the side that wants to take the choice away from women and give it to the state, they're fighting a losing battle. Time is on the side of change" (Bazelon, New York Times Magazine, 7/12).

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