The National Constitution Center inspires active citizenship as the only place in these polarized times

where people across America and around the world can come together to learn about, debate, and celebrate the greatest vision of human freedom

in history, the U.S. Constitution.

Please support us by becoming a member and learn more at Constitution

Center.org. I'm Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the

National Constitution Center, and welcome to We The

People, a weekly show of constitutional debate.

The National Constitution Center is the only institution in America chartered by Congress

to disseminate information about the U.S. Constitution on a nonpartisan basis.

And in today's show, we explore one of the most hotly contested issues in all of constitutional law,

namely whether a woman has a constitutional right to terminate her pregnancy and what limits, if any, can be placed on that right.

In 1973, in the famous case of Roe v. Wade, the US Supreme Court held that the right to an abortion falls

within a right to privacy, protected

by the due process clause of the 14th Amendment.

And in 1992, in Planned Parenthood and Casey, The Supreme Court affirmed the core of Roe and the case

originated here in Pennsylvania. The state legislature enacted regulations governing

access to abortion, the rules included informed

consent and a mandatory 24-hour waiting period before having an abortion.

In its 5-4 ruling, the court held that women have a right to choose abortion before

fetal viability, but it also upheld many of Pennsylvania's regulations.

And in upholding those regulations, Casey said that regulations serving the state's

interest in protecting women's health and in protecting unborn life may be

...