The chief justice indicated that the pivotal issue for abortion rights may be whether a pregnant person has sufficient opportunity to get an abortion, not the age of the fetus.
“There is a point at which they’ve had the fair choice — opportunity to choice,” Roberts said, seeming to deliberately adopt the language of abortion rights advocates.
“Why would 15 weeks be an inappropriate line?” the chief justice asked. “Because viability, it seems to me, doesn’t have anything to do with choice. But, if it really is an issue about choice, why is 15 weeks not enough time?”
When Roberts floated that idea, advocates for both sides urged him not to adopt a centrist position leaving the abortion right on the books but focusing more on whether those who become pregnant have a genuine chance to seek an abortion.
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