Insurance Issues after Dobbs Part I: Fundamental Considerations


Summary

This First Analysis article discusses the United States Supreme Court decision that reversed Roe v. Wade and its significant impacts on insurance. The gut punch to Roe—often cited as the 40+-year-old precedent holding that there is a federal constitutional right to obtain an abortion—came in the June 24, 2022, decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Org., 2022 U.S. LEXIS 3057. Dobbs also effectively overruled Planned Parenthood of Southern Pa. v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833, another case that followed Roe. The immediate impact of Dobbs, within hours of its issuance, was a public uproar over a perceived dismantling of nearly 50 years of precedent woven into the social fabric of generations of Americans. But there is more than that looming--and in less obvious places—like insurance.