At Law: Four-One-Four

Annas discusses the implications of the recent Supreme Court decision, Webster v. Reproductive Health Services (July 1989), on the constitutionality of Missouri's abortion statute. His title refers to what Annas sees in Webster as the Justices' opinions on the issue of reversing or severely curtailing the Court's landmark 1973 abortion decision, Roe v. Wade. He briefly analyzes the five opinions issued in Webster concerning the constitutional right to privacy, the state's interest in protecting fetal life, and fetal viability. Annas criticizes Webster for what he sees as the politicization of the Court, the Chief Justice's failure to assert leadership and remove the abortion debate from the political arena, and the implicit appointment of one Justice as "abortion czar" on a Court where four Justices seem prepared to uphold Roe, and four prepared to reverse or curtail the 1973 decision.