The Conservatives’ latest attack on Mifepristone is a constitutional cover for Eugenics
This piece first appeared in our weekly newsletter, The Fallout.
Conservatives are floating an outrageous and dangerous new legal theory in their crusade against medication abortion. The proposed amended complaint by three conservative attorneys states that medication abortion interferes with the right of the state to regulate future pregnancies. According to the amended complaint, the attorneys general from Kansas, Missouri, and Idaho claim that decreased births, which they attribute to the availability of abortion pills, create a “sovereign injury to the state in itself,” which in turn leads to other potential injuries like the “losing a seat in Congress or qualifying for less federal funding if their populations are reduced.”
“Each abortion represents at least one lost potential or actual birth,” the amended complaint states.
Yup, you read that correctly. For the first time ever, the conservative legal movement is explicitly claiming the state has a right to your future pregnancies–because without them, their political power will be reduced.
These “population interests,” as articulated by the attorneys general, target pregnant teens, but there’s nothing in the states’ argument that would limit its reach to minors only. These arguments are not limited to abortion. These “population concerns” are nothing but a cover for conservative eugenics. It’s likely that a federal court stacked with Donald Trump nominees will embrace these policies.
