Special Episode: 43 Years Since Roe v. Wade

In this special topic episode, we spoke with three guests about the issue of abortion. Clarke D. Forsythe is Senior Counsel at Americans United for Life and author of the 2013 book Abuse of Discretion: The Inside Story of Roe v. Wade. Paige Comstock Cunningham is Executive Director of The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity. Anna Franzonello Paprocki is Staff Counsel at Americans United for Life. Clarke and Anna are both contributing authors of this Constitutional Law and Abortion Primer, which is intended for law students but is also accessible to and helpful for non-lawyers interested in the United States' abortion jurisprudence. 

Sex-selective abortion, which we discussed with Paige, was in the news just this past week. India is considering abolishing its ban on fetal sex testing and adopting a new strategy to prevent sex-selective abortion: mandatory fetal sex testing. The Indiana Senate passed a bill that would ban sex-selective abortions, abortions based on fetal disability, and the sale of fetal tissue. A Washington state Senate committee approved a bill that would ban sex-selective abortions. 

Please contact us with your feedback on this episode! We are eager to hear your thoughts and opinions. And if you found this episode interesting, please share it with your friends and family. 

We are taking a break for the rest of February so check back in March to hear the first episode of Season 3! In the meantime, we encourage you to catch up on old episodes of Vernacular that you may have missed. Thanks for listening!