The Supreme Court declined Tuesday to take up a case that would have allowed the justices to weigh in on the question of “fetal personhood” ― or whether a fetus should be considered a full person entitled to constitutional rights.
The case had been brought by a Catholic group on behalf of two pregnant women and their fetuses. The group argued that a 2019 Rhode Island law cementing abortion rights in the state had eliminated rights for the unborn.
A lower state court dismissed the case and, in May, the Rhode Island Supreme Court upheld the dismissal, citing the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade.
In its Roe decision, the high court specifically said that “the word ‘person’ ... does not include the unborn.”
The anti-abortion petitioners argued that the Supreme Court should revisit the issue in light of its decision to overturn Roe this summer. But the high court issued no comment alongside its denial.
Conservative lawmakers have wasted no time enacting harsh abortion restrictions after Roe was dismantled.
The issue of fetal personhood is considered one of the next frontiers in anti-abortion law as advocates push to diminish the rights of women in favor of creating rights for embryos and fetuses, potentially from the moment of conception.