Saturday, June 25, 2022

No, Dobbs Isn't "Decentralization"

I've seen some people celebrating yesterday's SCOTUS ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization on Tenth Amendment grounds of "states' rights" (a misnomer -- states don't have rights, only people do).

I've also seen some people touting "states' rights" as an example of "decentralization."

Whatever one thinks about abortion, and whatever one's opinions of the logic/soundness Roe or Dobbs as SCOTUS rulings, this is most manifestly the opposite of "decentralization."

Roe completely decentralized abortion, as a legal matter, to the level of individual choice.

Dobbs actively and specifically centralizes abortion, as a legal matter, from individual choice to the edicts of state legislatures.

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