Ohio Northern University Pettit College of Law law professor Joanne Brant, JD, recently appeared on the half-hour BGSU-TV program The Journal with host Steve Kendall. Brant and Kendall discuss the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in favor of the state of Mississippi in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which has returned jurisdiction of abortion to the states. The host notes that the ruling "has raised more questions than it answered."
Brant joins the program to discuss the background of the ruling, including Supreme Court precents protecting "bodily autonomy, personal liberty and privacy." Brandt quotes a 1970s pre-Roe v. Wade Supreme Court opinion that said "if the right of privacy means anything, it is the right of the individual, married or single, to be free from unwarranted governmental intrusion into matters so fundamentally affecting a person as the decision to bear or beget a child." She explains that a "zone of privacy" was established by the court as early as the 1890s.
Kendall and Brant also discuss what other U.S. Supreme Court decisions have been overturned and what post-Dobbs conditions look like across the 50 states. Brant comments, "This is a bit of a crazy quilt for Federalism" with roughly an equal number of states enacting trigger laws to prohibit abortion and working to expand women's access to abortion.
Brant sees future litigation testing state-level protection of privacy and states' abilities to control when individuals travel. The conversation also touches on how the Dobbs decision could impact other rights and the potential chaos of "do-overs" including right to privacy frameworks for gay marriage and contraception.
According to the ONU website, "Joanne Brant has taught law students at Ohio Northern since 1991. During that time, she has received multiple awards for teaching, scholarship and advising the ABA National Moot Court team."
