We will hear argument this morning in case 1913 92 dobs versus Jackson women's health organization

Last week at the Supreme Court, Justice Amy Coney Barrett had a question

Miss Riklman, I have a question about the safe haven laws

Safe haven laws essentially these are laws that allow someone to terminate parental rights to a child by

relinquishing that child for adoption and all 50 states you can terminate parental rights by

relinquishing a child and I think the shortest period might have been 48 hours if I'm remembering the data correctly

The suggestion that giving a baby up for adoption is quick and easy

That that was a pretty revealing thing for Barrett to bring up given the context because this was during oral arguments in a major case

about abortion a case out of Mississippi that we told you about last week and it could end with the courts

conservative majority reversing the constitutional right to an abortion which was established by

the Roe v. Wade and as she considered the case Justice Barrett who adopted two of her own seven children

wanted to know

Isn't adoption an alternative to abortion both Rowan Casey emphasized the burdens of parenting and the obligations of motherhood that flow from pregnancy

Why don't the safe haven laws take care of that problem?

It seems to me that it focuses the burden

Well, it's very interesting that justice Coney Barrett focuses specifically on the safe haven laws

Because this usage is extraordinarily rare and so her focus on that

Particularly was surprising to me

Gretchen Sisson is a sociologist at the University of California San Francisco

But her broader argument about the termination of parental rights is still somewhat surprising

Because what we have found is that most of them do not end up choosing to place

It infant for adoption and that's a large part because that choice can be devastating and it's hard to explain

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