Researching Reproductive Rights Post-Dobbs — A Resource List
On June 24, 2022 the US Supreme Court issued a decision in the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. The Court’s holding, as summarized by SCOTUSBlog, was that “[t]he Constitution does not confer a right to abortion; Roe v. Wade (1973) and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey (1992) are overruled; the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives.” Chief Justice John Roberts, who wrote a concurring opinion arguing against the overturn of Roe and Casey, called the opinion “a serious jolt to the legal system.”
Following the opinion in this landmark case, The New Yorker reported that the Dobbs decision wasn’t just sowing chaos in the legal system. It also unleashed a great deal of confusion regarding abortion laws and reproductive rights, among doctors and patients alike. In response, legal scholars, law schools, libraries, and others began creating tools to help navigate reproductive rights in a post-Dobbs world.
If you are researching the laws in your state or want to learn more about the jurisprudence and history of abortion and reproductive rights in the legal system, we have compiled this list of tools and resources to help.
· Washington’s abortion statutes can be found at RCW chapter 9.02.
· The State Law Library holds a vast collection of titles on the subject of abortion. Our most recent acquisition is Whose Choice Is It? : Abortion, Medicine and the Law (2021), edited by David F. Walbert and J. Douglas Butler. Topics covered in this book include constitutional rights, Roe v. Wade, US abortion law, and what lawyers need to know about the reproductive justice framework. Search for this title and others in the law library catalog.
· The Washington State Department of Health’s Sexual and Reproductive Health website contains a list of state laws related to sexual and reproductive health. The site also includes information about abortion, birth control and emergency contraception, resources, telehealth services, and more.
· Teen Health Hub WA provides resources to Washington teens on sexual and reproductive health including information on emergency contraception, abortion access, and privacy and healthcare rights.
· WashingtonLawHelp has a number of publications on healthcare rights, including Abortion Rights in Washington State and I’m under 18. When can I get health care without an adult’s consent?
· The Guttmacher Institute “is a primary source for research and policy analysis on abortion in the United States.” They provide a page with comprehensive resources on policy, data, news, and state laws and policies regarding abortion and other reproductive and sexual rights. They also have a state sexual and reproductive health legislation tracker.
· To track laws in all 50 states, the National Women’s Law Center has created a website called “The State of Abortion Access.” The site states, “We’ll be posting regular updates on where abortion is legal, banned, and restricted.”
· The Center for Reproductive Rights created an Abortion Laws by State interactive map that allows users to filter by abortion law type.
· The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) website has two resources for researching state laws on abortion. Their State Abortion Laws in the Absence of Roe v. Wade page provides information about which states have statutes that either permit or prohibit abortion. Their State Abortion Laws: Protections and Restrictions page provides information about state statutes on common abortion policies. On October 28th of this year, Washington Governor Jay Inslee and several state legislators announced plans to introduce several “reproductive freedom” bills in the upcoming legislative session.
· For federal legislation, Govtrack.us and the Library of Congress have created a website “to browse bills in the U.S. Congress related to the subject Abortion.” The site provides the ability to sort by current bill status, such as introduced, passed House/Senate, enacted, and failed cloture. For further research tips, check out this State Law Library blog post on researching federal legislative history.
· ReproductiveRights.gov provides information on reproductive rights, privacy, emergency medical care, options available for persons who do not have insurance coverage, and more.
· In July The United States Department of Justice announced the establishment of the Reproductive Rights Task Force. They will be tasked with monitoring “all state and local legislation, regulations, and enforcement actions that threaten” certain reproductive rights. Find links here to President Biden’s Executive Order on Protecting Access to Reproductive Healthcare Services and Department of Justice information on freedom of access to clinic entrances and protecting patients and health care providers.
· Shortly before the Dobbs decision, the opinion was leaked to the press, signaling the seismic shift in abortion rights that was about to happen. In response, Harvard Law School published “A Brief History of Abortion Jurisprudence in the United States.” Cases discussed in the article include Griswold v. Connecticut (1965), Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt (2016), and June Medical Services LLC v. Russo (2020).
· Libguides are a great way to find study and research tools all in one place. Developed by librarians, libguides include lists of books, websites, articles, videos, and more on select topics. Guides developed by Rutgers University, University of Michigan, Indian River State College, and St. Ambrose University all include information about the Dobbs decision.
For research assistance on abortion and reproductive rights and the law, or any other legal topic, please contact the law library reference staff at library.requests@courts.wa.gov or 360–357–2136. (LE)
