In recent years a number of high-profile abortion restrictions or bans have been overturned. With a majority of Republican-held state legislatures, a current Republican president and Congress, and a new conservative Supreme Court justice, the idea is that Republicans at the state level are trying to get a test case up to the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade. Is this an unusual phenomenon?
In the 25 years after Roe v. Wade (up to 1998) there were 3 Republican presidents opposed to the decision, various Republican-held houses of Congress and state legislatures, and a somewhat conservative-leaning supreme court. At what times have there been the most political will to overturn the decision, and have any cases come close?
planned parenthood v. casey. the essential holding of roe, that a right to an abortion is found through a right to privacy, might have been struck down had not three appointed justices by republicans upheld that essential holding, but modified the standard to that of "undue burden." using that doctrine, they upheld various restrictions on abortion (all save the spousal notification part of the law). the dissents of reihnquist, thomas, scalia, and white all questioned the idea of a right to an abortion through the right of privacy.
from reignquist's dissent:
We believe that Roe was wrongly decided, and that it can and should be overruled consistently with our traditional approach to stare decisis in constitutional cases. We would adopt the approach of the plurality in Webster v. Reproductive Health Services, 492 U.S. 490 (1989), and uphold the challenged provisions of the Pennsylvania statute in their entirety.
Planned Parenthood of Southern Pennsylvania v. Casy, 505 U.S. 833 (1992).