Court reaffirms abortion rights

WASHINGTON – In its most important pronouncement on abortion in a decade, the Supreme Court Wednesday strongly reaffirmed its 1973 decision that women have a constitutional right to end their pregnancies and struck down a far-reaching ordinance in Akron, Ohio, restricting that right. Led by President Reagan’s appointee, Justice Sandra O’Connor, three dissenters on the court made a frontal attack on Roe vs. Wade, the 10-year-old ruling. The nation’s first woman justice, who had not taken part in any of the court’s prior abortion rulings, contended that the government has a “compelling” interest in protecting “potential human life” at all stages of a woman’s pregnancy.

But O’Connor’s effort, supported by Justices William H. Rehnquist and Byron R. White, fell short. The rest of the court members pointed out that the Roe decision had been “considered with special care” before it was issued and said that they abide by it as a precedent under the doctrine of “stare decisis” (Latin for “let the decision stand”). The 6-3 decision, written by Justice Lewis Powell, appeared designed to lay to rest any speculation that the present Supreme Court will change its stance on abortion. The ruling was immediately denounced as a major disappointment by right-to-life groups and praised as a broad victory by groups supporting the right of women to choose an abortion. The justices ruled unconstitutional all the disputed provisions of the detailed anti-abortion ordinance enacted in 1978 in Akron,