The Scarlet Letter: The Supreme Court and the Language of Abortion Stigma

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

Journal Abbreviation

Mich. J. Gender & L.

Abstract

This article examines how the Supreme Court’s abortion jurisprudence depicts abortion and the woman who seeks an abortion. It analyzes how narratives drawn from the Court’s abortion opinions attribute negative characteristics to women who decide to terminate their pregnancies. These narratives serve both expressive and normative functions, acting to re-enforce abortion stigma and narrow the constitutional legitimacy of reproductive freedom. Abortion stigma should be a concern for the Court, for its engendered judgment of women and for the burden it places on women who seek to exercise their constitutional rights.

First Page

293

Last Page

337

Publication Date

2013

Comments

Lewis & Clark Law School Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2012-8

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