Julie Murray, a senior staff attorney at Planned Parenthood, agreed that the privacy right was not absolute. However, she pointed out the fact that, in 1993 a court ruled that, under the privacy clause that a person on death row was entitled to bodily autonomy which stopped the state from requiring the inmate to undergo medication that could render the inmate "competent" enough to be executed. The right to autonomy, she argued ought to extend even to mothers who have reached 6 weeks pregnant.

She said that six weeks claimed was the time that women even knew they were pregnant. "Whether it takes you 10 days or a month to figure that out, that's a decision that should be left to women," Ms. Murray argued.

The decision of Thursday's court indicated that justices were disposed to the argument, pointing out that the state's ban on abortions at 6 weeks "in many instances completely forecloses" the possibility of having an abortion.

The justices are not officially partisan However, they are appointed for 10-year terms by the general assembly of the state that is run by Republicans.

Justice Kaye Hearn, who was the author of the opinion released this Thursday is sole woman and second woman to be a judge in the Court. Chief Justice Donald Beatty, the second Black justice appointed in the years following Reconstruction was also a part of the decision along together with Justice John C. Few.

Justice Hearn seemed to indicate an understanding of the abortionists during oral arguments. She pointed out that the plaintiff's courtroom was predominantly female, while the side of the state was male. Women who are pregnant at the age of six weeks don't wish to reveal their pregnancy to anyone the pregnancy status, she explained and a lot of women don't wish to be told by anyone if they've experienced an abortion.

"I know you're not a woman," she said to an attorney for an agency of state. "But what could be more personal than that decision?"

Ava Sasani contributed reporting.

 
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