Constitutional Scholar Chemerinsky to Speak on "The Future of Abortion Rights" at the University of Richmond School of Law
September 18, 2006
Professor Erwin Chemerinsky of Duke University will speak on “The Future of Abortion Rights” Sept. 29 at University of Richmond School of Law.
The lecture begins at noon in the law school’s Moot Court Room, followed by questions from the audience and a reception. The public is invited, and admission is free.
Chemerinsky will discuss two upcoming Supreme Court cases challenging the federal ban on so-called partial-birth abortions, passed by Congress in 2003. Gonzales v. Carhart and Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood are scheduled to be argued before the high court Nov. 8—the day after midterm Congressional elections.
The 8th U.S. Circuit of Appeals, which hears cases from Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota, held the federal ban unconstitutional in Gonzales v. Carhart in July 2005, because it fails to provide any exception to the ban when a woman’s health is at stake.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court, serving California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Montana, Idaho, Nevada, Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, also ruled the ban unconstitutional in Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood. The court said the ban fails to protect women’s health, poses and undue burden on a woman’s right to choose and is too vague.
Named by Legal Affairs magazine as one of “the top 20 legal thinkers in America,” Chemerinsky frequently argues before the Supreme Court of the United States and federal appeals courts. Author of four influential books on constitutional law, he is the Alston & Bird Professor of Law and Political Science at Duke.
The event is sponsored by Law Students for Choice. For more information, contact Mary Hunt, chair, Law Students for Choice at (804) 815-2473 or mary.hunt@richmond.edu.