Book Review: “Abuse of Discretion” by Clark D. Forsythe

Ever since it was decided in 1973, Roe v. Wade has been harshly criticized-not only by pro-life conservatives but also by some pro-choice liberals who question the decision’s breadth and constitutional reasoning. Soon after the decision was announced, Laurence Tribe of Harvard Law School observed that Roe went “to lengths few observers had expected, imposing limits on permissible abortion legislation so severe that no abortion law in the United States remained valid.”

Nearly 20 years later, before she joined the Supreme Court, Ruth Bader Ginsburg declared that Roe was not a “measured motion” because it “invited no dialogue with legislators.” Instead, it created “a set of rules that displaced virtually every state law then in force.”