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Politics
Maurizio Valsania, Professor of American History, Università di Torino

Abortion decision cherry-picks history – when the US Constitution was ratified, women had much more autonomy over abortion decisions than during 19th century

Ben Franklin, center, inserted an abortion recipe in a popular textbook he republished in 1748. GraphicaArtis/Getty Images

Justice Samuel Alito appears spellbound by the 19th century.

In Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the decision Alito wrote overruling 50 years of constitutional protection for women’s right to get an abortion, he deploys arguments that are based on several historical precedents. He uses the phrase “history and tradition” regularly.

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