Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett defended the Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade, during a rare TV interview with CBS anchor Norah O’Donnell.
Pressed on the dissenters’ concerns—particularly that Dobbs could complicate access to methods like the morning-after pill, IUDs, and IVF—Barrett dismissed the notion that Dobbs imposed morality or made abortion illegal. She stated, “Dobbs did not render abortion illegal. Dobbs did not say anything about whether abortion is immoral.” Instead, she emphasized that the case restored authority over abortion to the democratic process.
Barrett defended the ruling as a constitutional duty, not a political act. She argued that the Constitution grants no explicit right to abortion and that such decisions must be made by voters and their representatives—not by courts.
Barrett’s remarks align with excerpts from her forthcoming memoir, Listening to the Law, in which she frames the Court as an engine of democratic integrity rather than moral or political judgment.
Her stance comes amid a broader pattern of judicial restraint and originalist decision-making. Critics on both sides note that Justice Barrett often surprises ideological expectations in sensitive rulings.
