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66  DOBBS v. JACKSON WOMEN’S HEALTH ORGANIZATION 

Opinion of the Court 

55.5 percent of the voters who cast ballots.68 

3 
Unable to show concrete reliance on Roe and Casey them-
selves, the Solicitor General suggests that overruling those 
decisions  would  “threaten  the  Court’s  precedents  holding
that the Due Process Clause protects other rights.”  Brief 
for United States 26 (citing Obergefell, 576 U. S. 644; Law-
rence, 539 U. S. 558; Griswold, 381 U. S. 479).  That is not 
correct for reasons we have already discussed.  As even the 
Casey plurality recognized, “[a]bortion is a unique act” be-
cause it terminates “life or potential life.”  505 U. S., at 852; 
see also Roe, 410 U. S., at 159 (abortion is “inherently dif-
ferent  from  marital  intimacy,”  “marriage,”  or  “procrea-
tion”).  And to ensure that our decision is not misunderstood 
or  mischaracterized,  we  emphasize  that  our  decision  con-
cerns the constitutional right to abortion and no other right. 
Nothing in this opinion should be understood to cast doubt 
on precedents that do not concern abortion. 

IV 

Having shown that traditional stare decisis factors do not 
weigh in favor of retaining Roe or Casey, we must address 
one final argument that featured prominently in the Casey 
plurality opinion.

The  argument  was  cast  in  different  terms,  but  stated 
simply, it was essentially as follows.  The American people’s
belief in the rule of law would be shaken if they lost respect
for this Court as an institution that decides important cases
based on principle, not “social and political pressures.”  505 
U. S., at 865.  There is a special danger that the public will 

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census.gov/quickfacts/MS. 

68 Census Bureau, Voting and Registration in the Election of November 
2020, Table 4b: Reported Voting and Registration, by Sex, Race and His-
panic  Origin,  for  States:  November  2020,  https://www.census.gov/data/ 
tables/time-series/demo/voting-and-registration/p20-585.html.