Her-Story; a Blog Series on Women and the Law in the USA : When did Women Obtain the Right to Bodily Autonomy
In honor of Women’s History Month, we’re continuing our four-part series, Her-Story: Women and the Law in the USA, exploring key legal battles shaping women’s rights. After covering early equality struggles and the fight for financial independence, this third installment examines the battle for reproductive autonomy—from landmark Supreme Court cases to the Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade. With abortion access now in the hands of individual states, reproductive rights have eroded in many areas, underscoring that the fight for gender equality is far from over.
As previously discussed in this series, just as women to had fight for fundamental rights such as voting, owning property, running businesses, and accessing financial services—rights that were not fully granted until the 20th century—they have also had to fight for control over their own bodies.
Prior to 1965, even married women were not guaranteed the right to birth control. This changed with the Supreme Court’s ruling in Griswold v. State of Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479 (1965), which established a constitutional right to privacy under the 14th Amendment, securing access to contraception for married couples. Nearly a decade later, this right was extended to unmarried individuals, in the Supreme Court’s decision of Eisenstadt v. Baird, 405 U.S. 438 (1972).
The landmark case Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), further expanded women’s bodily autonomy by recognizing a constitutional right to abortion, essentially allowing women to decide when and if they wanted to start a family. However, in the more than 50 years since this decision was made, various legal challenges and rulings chipped away at Roe, culminating in its overturning on June 24, 2022, in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, et al., 597 U.S. 215 (2022). In Dobbs, the Supreme Court ruled that the U.S. Constitution does not confer a right to abortion, returning the authority to regulate abortion to individual states and their elected representatives.
As a result, a woman’s ability to choose if and when to start or expand her family now depends on where she lives. This shift has led to a significant erosion of reproductive rights. In the wake of Dobbs, 12 states have enacted total abortion bans, while seven others have imposed restrictions within the first 18 weeks of pregnancy—four of which prohibit abortion after just six weeks.
While women today have more rights than previous generations, the fight for true gender equality continues.
Kristin M. Gummoe is a senior associate at Hoagland Longo. As a first-generation attorney, she was named the first Planning Board Chairwoman in her town’s 108-year history in 2024. She focuses her practice on litigation of general and automobile liability cases and has experience in the litigation of environmental and toxic tort matters. She is also a member of the firm’s Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Committee.