Project 2026: The Right to Reproductive Decision-Making

In 1965, the Supreme Court held in Griswold v. Connecticut that the Constitution protected the right of families to use contraception. In 1973, the Court in Roe v. Wade extended this right to decisions to terminate a pregnancy. When Roe was overturned fifty years later in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, this not only affected abortion rights but threatened access to contraceptives and fertility treatments. Justice Clarence Thomas, writing in concurrence, explicitly called for the Supreme Court to overturn Griswold and remove the remaining constitutional protections for reproductive decisions. Federal legislation could be passed, however, to protect contraception and restore protections for abortion.