13th Amendment No Basis for Nat'l Abortion Protection

fter Dobbs, where can pro-choice advocates look in the Constitution to support abortion? One professor believes she has found the answer in the Thirteenth Amendment, the provision banning slavery that was ratified in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War. Lisa Crooms-Robinson, a professor at Howard University School of Law, reasons out of a wish for Congress to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act of 2021. The bill, among other provisions, would codify the abortion protections found in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, both of which the court just overturned.

Congress, like the rest of the national government, possesses only the powers given to it by the U.S. Constitution. Thus Crooms-Robinson makes a good point that those wishing to pass national legislation protecting abortion must consider the constitutional basis for congressional action. Furthermore, she notes the potential problems for how the Women’s Health Protection Act defends itself on this score.

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