A Science Lesson for Justice Sotomayor | Opinion

Does Justice Sonia Sotomayor even read the briefs in cases before the Supreme Court?

I ask because the cases don’t come any bigger than Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which addresses Mississippi’s limit on abortion after 15 weeks. The Court is being asked to overturn the 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade and 1992 decision in Planned Parenthood v. Casey. I joined two other female physicians (a neonatologist and an obstetrician) in an amicus brief detailing advances in fetal science that have happened since 1973.

During oral arguments, Justice Sotomayor displayed abysmal ignorance of the most basic scientific and medical facts about developing human life.

The exchange came right after Mississippi’s solicitor general Scott Stewart argued it was no longer appropriate to use fetal viability (the gestational age at which a prematurely-born infant can survive in an intensive care unit) as the point after which states can protect an unborn child from elective abortion. He said this was due in part to 30 years of medical advances. In a piqued, incredulous tone, Sotomayor demanded to know just “What are the advancements in medicine?” As Stewart began to list them, mentioning new knowledge of fetal pain, the Justice abruptly cut him off.

via www.msn.com

It was not the Court’s best moment.