I can't wait to read this!
I can't wait to read this!
Thanks so much, @ggkrishnamoomoo.bsky.social!!
Thanks so much, @coreyryung.bsky.social!!! I really appreciate it!!
Thanks, @lauraportuondo.bsky.social !!
Thanks, @susanrinkunas.com! And so good to finally meet you in person last week!!
Thanks, @teneille.bsky.social!!!
Thanks, @alexnunn.bsky.social!!
Amazing!!! So glad you liked it, @jacquelinefox.bsky.social!
How's that happen? @greerdonley.bsky.social and I have it all here in our article from late last year: From Medical Exceptions to Reproductive Freedom.
A narrow but important win in Indiana. Cracks in abortion bans start small, then they grow.
& If you haven't already, please also check out @revasiegel.bsky.social's great article also critiquing these scholars through a different lens! papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Thanks to the many people who offered incredible feedback, including @dsc250.bsky.social @maryrziegler.bsky.social @revasiegel.bsky.social @mayamanian.bsky.social @jillwieberlens.bsky.social Aaron Tang Yvette Lindgren Jessie Allen & @mblawrence.bsky.social
Quite clearly: fetuses were not understood to be "persons" at the time bc (1) they were not understood to be "LIVING human beings" or SEPARATE "individuals," (2) the law did not recognize personhood until birth, & (3) the public understood person in the Lockean sense of an individual w free will.
"An Originalist Critique of Fetal Personhood" w Chip Carter is officially online (& forthcoming in U. Penn. L. Rev.)! papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers..... We scour 19th cen. dictionaries & the context in which the 14A was ratified to discover the original public & legal meaning of "person" in 1868.
On X, Josh Craddock is posting his critique of Reva Siegel's article on the weaknesses of arguments about fetal personhood:
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Read both papers and decide for yourself. :)
And when you are done, read this important piece by @greerdonley.bsky.social and Chip Carter on originalism and personhood:
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Thanks Maya!!! Both are so much better bc of your feedback!
Ally beat me to it, but excited to share that "Perinatal Palliative Care & Abortion," co-authored with @amwhelan.bsky.social, is forthcoming in the Virginia Law Review.
Abstract below and it will be up on SSRN as soon as SSRN allows...
Thanks, David!! As always, your feedback was so helpful!
This is a great piece! You want originalism and abortion? Here it is. And it's now that you think.
It is such an honor for @ssrn.bsky.social to feature my work! Thank you to Apoorva Anand for getting to know my scholarship and for writing this up!
Excited to announce that βPerinatal Palliative Care & Abortion,β co-authored with the fabulous @jillwieberlens.bsky.social, will be published with Virginia Law Reviewβ¦ SSRN draft coming soon π
LOL - the vortex!!!! So glad you introduced me that. I'll be using it for the rest of my life.
Sure! Email me, and I'll send it to you.
Thrilled that my article with William ("Chip") Carter, An Originalist Critique of Fetal Personhood, is now forthcoming in the Pennsylvania Law Review!!! It was weirdly fun to spend months buried in 19th century dictionaries & Locke's writings. We are still editing but hope to have it online soon!
NEW: After doctors sent her home with a racing heart, Ciji Graham came to believe the best way to protect her health was to end her pregnancy.
But new restrictions in NC and nearby states made finding an abortion provider difficult.
www.propublica.org/article/nort...
Great NYT piece showing that despite massive changes in law & policy after Dobbs, the # of abortions have increased every year. That could change quickly, but is quite remarkable. β quotes from @dsc250.bsky.social @carolejoffe.bsky.social @ushma.bsky.social & others. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/09/u...
If the Trump FDA does eventually tighten abortion pill regulation, all of these public quotes that identify it as a political decision will only make the arbitrary & capricious challenge stronger... bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-12-08/fda-slow-walking-a-long-awaited-abortion-pill-safety-study
I recognize this is a provocative conclusion. It is meant to start a conversation, not end it. Iβm deeply in debt to the many folks who helped me with this piece, esp the property law scholars who were patient with me as waded into a totally new field (which I hope to never write in again π€£)!
Finally, I briefly explore what a property theory of the body could mean for self-sovereignty, including a new articulation of abortion rights through a property lens (right to exclude & destroy) and a constitutional lens (takings, due process, involuntary servitude).