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University of Southern Mississippi

Shaping the Supreme Court

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

<p>Abortion has proven itself to be one of the most divisive issues in modern American politics (Ziegler 2009, 281). Although states did not begin to criminalize abortion until the mid-19<sup>th</sup> century, largely due to a group of doctors which argued that the procedure was damaging American society, abortion was largely practiced throughout much of American history (Stevenson 2019, 19). Since the Supreme Court of the United States has the power through judicial review to determine the constitutionality of state legislation, the abortion issue eventually made its way through the court system. Abortion has proven itself to be a complicated section of law for both courts and lawmakers. Initially, in the landmark <em>Roe v. Wade</em> (1973) case, the court gave women the right to seek an abortion prior to viability through an inferred constitutional right to privacy. This research aims to determine whether the <em>Roe</em> decision was sufficiently supported by the prior court precedent. Further, this research also aims to determine ideological shifts in the court bench, the consistency of Justices' constitutional interpretations in abortion cases, and which constitutional interpretation, if any, effectively protects women’s right to choose. Finally, this research aims to determine whether the <em>Dobbs</em> court was justified in overturning the <em>Roe</em> precedent under their cited reasoning and relevant case precedent.</p>

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Arts (MA)
Level thesis:degree_level
Masters Thesis
Year dc:date.available
2024

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Guerra, Evelyn Danielle
Contributors dc:contributor
  • Dr. Marek Steedman
  • Dr. Kate Greene
  • Dr. Iliyan Iliev

Subjects

dc:subject × 11

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Repository record dc:identifier
https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/1032
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:aquila.usm.edu:masters_theses-2108

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
University of Southern Mississippi
Base URL
aquila.usm.edu/do/oai/
Last updated
2026-07-24
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Guerra, Evelyn Danielle. Shaping the Supreme Court. Masters Thesis thesis, 2024. https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/1032