Document Type
Note
Abstract
The controversial Roe v. Wade decision purportedly removed the abortion controversy from the political arena and set constitutional standards by which questions on the issue could be resolved. The enactment of the Hyde Amendment, a bill which generally forbids the use of Medicaid funds for abortions, was a recent political response to the abortion controversy. However, in the recent case of Harris v. McRae, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Hyde Amendment and thus injected the abortion controversy back into the political arena. The author exhaustively examines the abortion controversy from the time of the Roe decision up to the enactment of the Hyde Amendment, the various arguments and corresponding levels of review by which the Supreme Court upheld the Hyde Amendment and the drastic consequences that Harris v. McRae will pose for indigent women and the Supreme Court's "two-tiered" approach for Equal Protection Clause analysis. The author concludes that this case represents not only a retreat from the Roe decision, but also the sanction of a law that effectively violates the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the fifth amendment.
Recommended Citation
Laura Crocker
Harris v. McRae: Whatever Happened to the Roe v. Wade Abortion Right?,
8 Pepp. L. Rev.
Iss. 3
(1981)
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/plr/vol8/iss3/8
Included in
Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons, Constitutional Law Commons, Fourteenth Amendment Commons, Law and Gender Commons
