Thornburgh v. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists

Thornburgh v. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 476 U.S. 747 (1986) was a United States Supreme Court case involving a challenge to Pennsylvania's Abortion Control Act of 1982.

Although the law in question was similar to the one in City of Akron v. Akron Center for Reproductive Health

City of Akron v. Akron Center for Reproductive Health

City of Akron v. Akron Center for Reproductive Health, 462 U.S. 416 , was a case in which the United States Supreme Court affirmed its abortion rights jurisprudence...

, in Thornburgh the Reagan administration asked the justices to overrule Roe v. Wade
Roe v. Wade
Roe v. Wade, , was a controversial landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court on the issue of abortion. The Court decided that a right to privacy under the due process clause in the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution extends to a woman's decision to have an abortion,...

, a case which Chief Justice Warren Burger had now decided to abandon.

Justice Blackmun's opinion for the court rejected this position, reaffirming Roe. Justice O'Connor

Sandra Day O'Connor

Sandra Day O'Connor is an American jurist who was the first female member of the Supreme Court of the United States. She served as an Associate Justice from 1981 until her retirement from the Court in 2006. O'Connor was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1981...

distanced herself from the court in dissent, "disput[ing] not only the wisdom but also the legitimacy of the Court's attempt to discredit and pre-empt state abortion regulation regardless of the interests it serves and the impact it has." The 7-2 majority of Roe had now shrunk to 5-4.

Shift Toward Women's Rights

Justice Blackmun's opinion in Thornburgh emphasized women's rights, rather than the rights of physicians, the emphasis of his opinion in Roe. He wrote: "Few decisions are more personal and intimate, more properly private, or more basic to individual dignity and autonomy, than a woman's decision - with the guidance of her physician and within the limits specified in Roe - whether to end her pregnancy. A woman's right to make that choice freely is fundamental."

Shift Toward Women's Rights

See also