Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/19-1392_6j37.pdf/19-1392_6j37.pdf
Page Number: 194.0

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

47 

BREYER, SOTOMAYOR, and KAGAN, JJ., dissenting 

of home and family life,” with “special responsibilities” that 
precluded  their  full  legal  status  under  the  Constitution. 
Hoyt v. Florida, 368 U. S. 57, 62 (1961).  By 1973, when the 
Court decided Roe, fundamental social change was under-
way regarding the place of women—and the law had begun 
to follow.  See Reed v. Reed, 404 U. S. 71, 76 (1971) (recog-
nizing that the Equal Protection Clause prohibits sex-based 
discrimination).  By 1992, when the Court decided Casey, 
the  traditional  view  of  a  woman’s  role  as  only  a  wife  and 
mother was “no longer consistent with our understanding
of  the  family,  the  individual,  or  the  Constitution.”  505 
U. S., at 897; see supra, at 15, 23–24.  Under that charter, 
Casey understood, women must take their place as full and 
equal citizens.  And for that to happen, women must have
control over their reproductive decisions.  Nothing since Ca-
sey—no  changed  law,  no  changed  fact—has  undermined 
that promise. 

C 
The  reasons  for  retaining  Roe  and  Casey  gain  further 
strength  from  the  overwhelming  reliance  interests  those 
decisions have created.  The Court adheres to precedent not 
just for institutional reasons, but because it recognizes that
stability in the law is “an essential thread in the mantle of 
protection  that  the  law  affords  the  individual.”  Florida 
Dept. of Health and Rehabilitative Servs. v. Florida Nurs-
ing Home Assn., 450 U. S. 147, 154 (1981) (Stevens, J., con-
curring).  So when overruling precedent “would dislodge [in-
dividuals’]  settled  rights  and  expectations,”  stare  decisis 
has  “added  force.”  Hilton  v.  South  Carolina  Public  Rail-
ways Comm’n, 502 U. S. 197, 202 (1991).  Casey understood 
that to deny individuals’ reliance on Roe was to “refuse to 
face the fact[s].”  505 U. S., at 856.  Today the majority re-
fuses  to  face  the  facts.  “The  most  striking  feature  of  the 
[majority] is the absence of any serious discussion” of how