U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Justice Holmes and Roe v. Wade

NCJ Number
121083
Journal
Trial Volume: 25 Issue: 12 Dated: (December 1989) Pages: 58-64
Author(s)
S M Novick
Date Published
1989
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This article applies the arguments used by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes to regulate economic life to the State's power to regulate abortion in Roe v. Wade.
Abstract
Holmes's analysis is applied to the competing rights of mother and fetus and to the legal doctrine of substantive due process. Holmes would probably rely on an expanded view of the Bill of Rights and an awareness of increased medical technology to support increased individual freedoms. Holmes would conclude that the State has a legitimate interest in the individuality of fetuses, for their genetic makeup produces a strong, diverse, and healthy population. However, Holmes's reliance on principles of decency and honor would make him reluctant to support a State program of compulsory childbearing. 24 footnotes.