Elon Law Professor Scott Gaylord offered insights about recent state legislation and court decisions related to abortion laws this week.
On July 10, Gaylord appeared on The Daily Circuit, a program of Minnesota Public Radio (MPR), for a discussion about state legislative activity regarding abortion laws and legal challenges arising from such legislation. In the interview, Gaylord notes that the U.S. Supreme Court’s Planned Parenthood v. Casey decision supersedes the Court’s prior decision in Roe v. Wade.
“Roe v. Wade still holds sway in the national consciousness, but really the governing law is determined by a case called Casey,” Gaylord said.
The Casey decision broadened the ability of states to create laws restricting abortions but barred states from imposing an undue burden on women’s access to abortion.
“Even in the opinion itself, there’s this gray area as to what’s constitutional and what’s not constitutional,” Gaylord said.
An article and podcast of the MPR program is available here.
A July 13 Washington Post article about the growing level of state legislative activity regarding abortions also includes commentary from Professor Gaylord.
“Scott Gaylord, an associate professor at Elon University School of Law, said the legal cases that are being filed in response to this burst of activity are ‘extremely important because the legislatures are pushing in new directions, [and] states are handling these issues somewhat differently,’” the Washington Post article states. “How the courts end up ruling, he said, ‘really helps set the tone and will set important precedents.’”
The complete Washington Post article is available here.
More information on Elon Law Professor Scott Gaylord is available here.