Judge Suggests New Strategy to Revive Federal Abortion Rights

February 9, 2023 by Tom Ramstack
Judge Suggests New Strategy to Revive Federal Abortion Rights
FILE - People protest following the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in Washington, June 24, 2022. Democrats are pumping an unprecedented amount of money into advertising related to abortion rights, underscoring how central the message is to the party in the final weeks before the November midterm elections. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

WASHINGTON — A judge in Washington, D.C., this week suggested a new legal strategy to revive a federal right to abortion.

U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said the 13th Amendment could be interpreted to mean women have a constitutional right to abortion. The 13th Amendment bans slavery and “involuntary servitude.” 

Last year, the Supreme Court invoked the 14th Amendment to conclude the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion, thereby turning it over to each state to decide independently. Twenty-four states have instituted various degrees of bans on abortion since the ruling.

The 14th Amendment prohibits the government from depriving “any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”


Kollar-Kotelly said the Supreme Court limited itself to discussing the 14th Amendment because it was the only issue the parties to the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization mentioned in their court filings.

If they had presented different arguments, “it is entirely possible that the court might have held in Dobbs that some other provision of the Constitution provided a right to access reproductive services had that issue been raised,” Kollar-Kotelly wrote in a court order. “However, it was not raised.”

“Of those provisions that might contain some right to access to such services, the 13th Amendment has received substantial attention among scholars and, briefly, in one federal Court of Appeals decision,” she said.

The judge’s court order drew a harsh rebuke from the National Right to Life Committee, an anti-abortion advocacy group.

“To compare pregnancy to involuntary servitude is abominable; an insult to slaves or anyone whose ancestors were slaves,” Carol Tobias, president of the National Right to Life Committee, told The Well News. “Judge Kollar-Kotelly should be embarrassed for even trying to make that comparison.”

The judge’s order was part of a criminal case against anti-abortion activist Lauren Handy.

Handy was one of nine activists charged last March with civil rights crimes after they forced their way into a Washington, D.C., abortion clinic and blocked the doors. Handy gained entry after making an appointment under a fake name, according to police.


Handy is free on bond while awaiting trial on charges of conspiracy against rights and abortion clinic access obstruction.

Weeks after she was charged, police were called to her home near Capitol Hill on a tip about a biohazard. Inside, they found five fetuses.

Although Handy is not accused of harming the fetuses while they were alive and no additional charges were filed against her, the local community expressed outrage in media reports.

Handy’s attorneys later filed a motion to dismiss the civil rights charges against her. Kollar-Kotelly’s order this week responded to their court filing.

The judge declined to dismiss the charges. Instead, she ordered the attorneys to submit additional evidence by next month on whether any provisions of the Constitution “could confer a right to abortion.”

Her order appears to open the door for additional lawsuits over abortion rights.

One citation to authority in her order was a 1990 paper by a Northwestern University School of Law professor who wrote that abortion rights were implied by the 13th Amendment’s prohibition against involuntary servitude.

“When women are compelled to carry and bear children, they are subjected to ‘involuntary servitude’ in violation of that amendment,” says the paper written by Andrew Koppelman.

In addition, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit in 1995 overruled a lower court judge who characterized a challenge to Utah’s abortion law as frivolous when it cited 13th Amendment rights.


“Without expressing a view on the merits of the involuntary servitude argument, we hold that it is not frivolous,” the appeals court’s ruling said.

You can reach us at[email protected]and follow us onFacebookandTwitter

A+
a-
  • 13th amendment
  • Abortion
  • Colleen Kollar-Kotelly
  • In The News

    Health

    Voting

    Civil Rights

    May 26, 2023
    by Dan McCue
    White House Unveils First National Strategy for Fighting Antisemitism

    WASHINGTON — The White House on Thursday released the country’s first national strategy for fighting antisemitism, outlining more than 100... Read More

    WASHINGTON — The White House on Thursday released the country’s first national strategy for fighting antisemitism, outlining more than 100 specific steps federal agencies have committed to completing before the end of the year. The plan also includes over 100 recommendations for Congress, state and local... Read More

    COVID Emergency Orders Among 'Greatest Intrusions on Civil Liberties,' Justice Gorsuch Says

    WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court got rid of a pandemic-related immigration case with a single sentence. Justice Neil Gorsuch had a lot more... Read More

    WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court got rid of a pandemic-related immigration case with a single sentence. Justice Neil Gorsuch had a lot more to say, leveling harsh criticism of how governments, from small towns to the nation's capital, responded to the gravest public health threat in a century. The justice,... Read More

    Here Are the Restrictions on Transgender People That Are Moving Forward in US Statehouses

    Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has highlighted efforts by Republican governors and statehouses across the country to embrace proposals limiting the... Read More

    Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has highlighted efforts by Republican governors and statehouses across the country to embrace proposals limiting the rights of transgender people, signing new restrictions as he moves closer to a presidential bid. The restrictions are spreading quickly despite criticism from medical groups and advocates who say... Read More

    Wave of Anti-Transgender Bills in Republican-Led States Divides US Faith Leaders

    As Republican-governed states across the nation advance myriad bills targeting transgender young people, America’s faith leaders are starkly divided in their assessment.... Read More

    As Republican-governed states across the nation advance myriad bills targeting transgender young people, America’s faith leaders are starkly divided in their assessment. Some view the legislation as reflecting God’s will; others voice outrage that Christianity is being invoked to justify laws they view as cruel and hateful. In... Read More

    Harry Belafonte, Activist and Entertainer, Dies at 96

    NEW YORK (AP) — Harry Belafonte, the civil rights and entertainment giant who began as a groundbreaking actor and singer... Read More

    NEW YORK (AP) — Harry Belafonte, the civil rights and entertainment giant who began as a groundbreaking actor and singer and became an activist, humanitarian and conscience of the world, has died. He was 96. Belafonte died Tuesday of congestive heart failure at his New York... Read More

    Alabama and Mississippi Mark Confederate Memorial Day

    MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama and Mississippi closed most government offices Monday for Confederate Memorial Day as efforts have stalled... Read More

    MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama and Mississippi closed most government offices Monday for Confederate Memorial Day as efforts have stalled to abolish state holidays that honor the old Confederacy. Legislation has been introduced in the ongoing Alabama legislative session to remove, alter or rename Confederate-related holidays,... Read More

    News From The Well
    scroll top