"Harry Blackmun questioned Weddington again on the issue of fetal personhood, as did Potter Stewart. They wanted her to concede that if the fetus was a person with constitutional rights, a woman could not have a constitutional right to unrestricted abortion. “If it were established that an unborn fetus is a person, with the protection of the Fourteenth Amendment, you would have an almost impossible case here, would you not?” Stewart asked, This time, Weddington reluctantly acknowledged the force of the argument. “I would have a very difficult case,” she conceded. This was what pro-lifers wanted to hear. It finally seemed, in the second round of oral arguments, that at least some of the justices saw the logic of the pro-lifers’ position. So did the attorney for the defense. In the re-argument, his arguments focused almost entirely on medical testimony about the fetus, combined with the case history detailing how lower court judges had recognized the value of fetal life. Once again he stumbled badly when cross-examined by the justices. But at least he focused his argument on the critical issue of fetal personhood."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
p.201
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Roe_v._Wade
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Roe v. Wade
Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the
1424 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Roe v. Wade →
Related Quotes
"In 1938, seven Justices heard a constitutional challenge to a federal ban on shipping adulterated milk in interstate …"
"The Court has simultaneously transformed judicially created rights like the right to abortion into preferred constitu…"
"Beyond these paltry authorities, the Court adds only the argument that we should not “encourage a kitchen-sink approa…"
"JUSTICE BREYER, with whom JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR and JUSTICE KAGAN join, dissenting. The procedural posture of this case l…"
"JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR, with whom JUSTICE BREYER and JUSTICE KAGAN join, dissenting. The Court’s order is stunning. Presen…"
"By the time that Michael Taylor sent out his communiqué, pro-life lawyers had been preparing legal arguments in Roe a…"
"Lawyers for the states of both Georgia and Texas argued that abortion restrictions were appropriate because the state…"
"Pro-life lawyers had complained before about the poor quality of state attorney’s attempts to defend restrictive abor…"
"Ellen McCormack’s Long Island-based organization, Women for the Unborn, which now had 2,000 members, submitted a brie…"
"The Court initially seemed to indicate that it had only limited interest in listening to arguments from either side. …"