
The legal right to privacy recognized in the landmark US Supreme Court decision Griswold v. Connecticut has been foundational in the recognition of a constitutional right to contraception, abortion, and a host of other rights.
The Court's 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, however, overturned the right to abortion previously recognized by the Court just 8 years after Griswold. In a concurring opinion in Dobbs, Justice Clarence Thomas specifically called out Griswold v. Connecticut, Lawrence v. Texas, and Obergefell v. Hodges as “erroneous” cases that should be overruled, putting a host of other rights at significant risk.
A timeline:
1972: Eisenstadt v. Baird
Extended the constitutional right to contraception to unmarried people.
1973: Roe v. Wade
Recognized a constitutionally protected right to abortion.
1977: Carey v. Population Services International
Recognized the right of minors to access contraception.
1992: Planned Parenthood v. Casey
Upheld the right to abortion but established the undue burden standard.
2003: Lawrence v. Texas
Recognized a constitutional right to privacy in intimate sexual acts.
2015: Obergefell v. Hodges
Established that the fundamental right to marry applies to same-sex couples.
2022: Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization
Overturned Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. The Supreme Court held that there is no explicit right to abortion under the US Constitution, and that it is not implicitly protected because abortion is not "deeply rooted" in the "history and tradition" of the United States.