"Frankly, I had thought that at the time Roe was decided, there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don't want to have too many of"
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg
About this Quote
Ruth Bader Ginsburg's quote is a recommendation to the 1973 Supreme Court situation Roe v. Wade, which established a woman's right to an abortion. In her quote, Ginsburg is implying that the decision to legislate abortion was motivated by a need to control populace growth, particularly of populations that were regarded unfavorable. This might be interpreted as a recommendation to the eugenics movement, which sought to control populace development by limiting the reproduction of particular teams of people. Ginsburg's quote recommends that the decision to legislate abortion was motivated by a desire to regulate population growth, and that this was a consider the Supreme Court's decision. This interpretation of Ginsburg's quote is a suggestion of the significance of thinking about the historic context of a choice when analyzing its implications.
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