Maybe a fetus is a person.

Maybe it isn't.

It isn't.

I know.

I know.

But that was a massive debate during the arguments for Roe versus Wade, which we covered in episode one.

So was the question of whether and how to balance the rights of the fetus against the rights of the pregnant person.

We covered that in episode two.

And again, it feels pretty clear who should win that argument. and it's got nothing to do with quote-unquote innocence.

But there's a third player in this case, Jess.

Amani, this is a family program. We are not talking about threesomes.

No, no, I'm talking about the state, as in the state of Texas,

a.k.a. the government. They're the ones who passed this abortion ban.

Okay, well then, Amani, I have a pretty simple question for you.

Oh, boy. What gives them the right to even pass that ban in the first place?

Sarah Weddington wondered the exact same thing.

The state has alleged, and its only alleged interest in this statute,

is the interest in protecting the life of the unborn.

However, the state has not been able to point to any authority of any nature whatsoever that would demonstrate that this statute was, in fact, adopted for that purpose. And that's why

for our third episode, we need to focus on this question. Where does the state's power to regulate

abortion come from? And how much of that power does it have?

I'm I'm Imani Gandhi.

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