The Supreme Court has declined to hear a case that could have led to tough nationwide restrictions on abortion. The court, without comment, turned away a case involving the question of whether a fetus has constitutional rights, CNN reports. The case was an appeal of a lower court's ruling in a Rhode Island case brought by a Catholic group and two women who said they were suing on behalf of their fetuses to challenge an abortion law, reports Reuters. The appeal urged the nation's top court to "finally determine whether prenatal life, at any gestational age, enjoys constitutional protection—considering the full and comprehensive history and tradition of our Constitution and law supporting personhood for unborn human beings."
The fetal personhood issue "raises complicated questions regarding the rights of fetuses that could impact issues such as in vitro fertilization and child support going forward," CNN notes. It could also lead to murder charges for women who have abortions. In the Rhode Island case, the plaintiffs sought to challenge a 2019 law codifying abortion rights by bringing claims on behalf of their unborn children. Rhode Island's Supreme Court ruled in May that the fetuses were not persons who could bring legal claims—and since they were born after the case was filed, they could not claim to be harmed by the abortion law.
When the Supreme Court overturned the Roe v Wade decision in June, Justice Samuel Alito said the court was not taking a position on "if and when prenatal life is entitled to any of the rights enjoyed after birth," per Reuters. Daniel McKee, Rhode Island's Democratic governor, said he was glad the court had turned away the "frivolous appeal." Since Roe was overturned, some Republican-led states have brought in fetal personhood laws, including Georgia, where an embryo or fetus with a detectable heartbeat can be claimed as a dependent on tax returns. (More US Supreme Court stories.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
