Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/19-1392_6j37.pdf/19-1392_6j37.pdf
Page Number: 154.0

Cite as:  597 U. S. ____ (2022) 

7 

BREYER, SOTOMAYOR, and KAGAN, JJ., dissenting 

in core constitutional concepts of individual freedom, and of 
the equal rights of citizens to decide on the shape of their 
lives.  Those legal concepts, one might even say, have gone
far toward defining what it means to be an American.  For 
in this Nation, we do not believe that a government control-
ling all private choices is compatible with a free people.  So 
we do not (as the majority insists today) place everything
within “the reach of majorities and [government] officials.” 
West  Virginia  Bd.  of  Ed.  v.  Barnette,  319  U. S.  624,  638 
(1943).  We believe in a Constitution that puts some issues 
off limits to majority rule.  Even in the face of public oppo-
sition,  we  uphold  the  right  of  individuals—yes,  including
women—to make their own choices and chart their own fu-
tures.  Or at least, we did once. 

A 
Some half-century ago, Roe struck down a state law mak-
ing it a crime to perform an abortion unless its purpose was
to save a woman’s life.  The Roe Court knew it was treading
on difficult and disputed ground.  It understood that differ-
ent people’s “experiences,” “values,” and “religious training”
and  beliefs  led  to  “opposing  views”  about  abortion.    410 
U. S., at 116.  But by a 7-to-2 vote, the Court held that in 
the earlier stages of pregnancy, that contested and contest-
able choice must belong to a woman, in consultation with
her family and doctor.  The Court explained that a long line 
of  precedents,  “founded  in  the  Fourteenth  Amendment’s 
concept  of  personal  liberty,”  protected  individual  deci-
sionmaking  related  to  “marriage,  procreation,  contracep-
tion, family relationships, and child rearing and education.” 
Id., at 152–153 (citations omitted).  For the same reasons, 
the Court held, the Constitution must protect “a woman’s
decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy.”  Id., 
at 153.  The Court recognized the myriad ways bearing a
child can alter the “life and future” of a woman and other