Anchoring Truths Contributing Editor and 2021 JWI Fellow Josh Hammer discusses the recently filed "Brief for the Petitioner" in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. Hammer applauds the good work of Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch as she boldly asks the Court to overturn both Roe and Casey, criticizes the erroneous ideas on the Court surrounding the doctrine of stare decisis, and explains new developments in embryology and prenatal science. Hammer believes the brief elegantly and lucidly explains the pro-life position and is a good start to the case that hopefully rids the country of its pernicious abortion jurisprudence.

Some excerpts from the piece:

"Fitch deserves credit not merely for her admirably pellucid language about Roe and Casey—'Roe and Casey are egregiously wrong'—but also for her strong contention that traditional stare decisis norms ought not to prevent the actual overturning of these deeply flawed constitutional precedents. As Michael Stokes Paulsen and I (among others) have argued, judicial reliance upon stare decisis norms in constitutional interpretation in our system of governance is not merely contrary to sound principles of judging: For the most part, such reliance is actually unconstitutional."

"AG Fitch’s brief is also distinguished by the inclusion of a subsection about recent advances in embryology and prenatal science that undermine Roe’s emphasis on 'viability' as the gestational point before which a state’s interest in prenatal life is not strong enough to warrant an abortion ban. She even noted that the U.S. 'finds itself in the company of China and North Korea as some of the only countries that permit elective abortions after 20 weeks’ gestation.' Other legal advocates might have shied away from such a bold line, preferring to make that pointed comparison in an op-ed and not a legal brief. But pro-lifers should be grateful that the justices on the high court will now see that stark and bloody reality laid out so clearly." 

"The Dobbs case, once it reaches the marble palace, will be a moment of truth. For pro-lifers who want nothing more than to put an end to this nation’s horrific five-decade-old experiment in state-sanctioned prenatal infanticide, it is time to begin praying. In the interim, Attorney General Fitch has gotten us off to a fine start."

Read the full piece here.