A step toward defining constitutional freedom as including rights to a restored biodiverse environment and equal opportunities in life

• Published in: Trends : ABA Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources Newsletter Vol. 53; no. 6; pp. 15 - 17
• Main Authors: Dillard, Carter, Blome, Jessica L
• Format: Trade Publication Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chicago American Bar Association 01.07.2022
• Subjects: Abortion; Anthropocentrism; Arson; Biodiversity; Children & youth; Climate change; Consent; Damage; Democracy; Emissions; Empowerment; Equal rights; Fertility; Greenhouse gases; Heating; Human rights; Influence; Paris Agreement; Power; Wilderness areas; United States > US; Texas
• ISSN: 1533-9556

Even the U.S. Supreme Court's expected decision eliminating the right to abortion can be expected to increase fertility rates5 and, in turn, increase greenhouse gas emissions.6 The climate crisis demands collective action and solutions beyond day-to-day governance. If freedom requires some form of consent to the influence others would have upon us, then it also requires a nonhuman background environment that is restored and natural-or biodiverse and eco-centric-to make such consent possible.7 The second case involves an amicus brief that Fair Start Movement and Population Balance will file in support of the United States' legal challenge to Texas Senate Bill 8, which created a private right of action against any person who assists a woman in obtaining an abortion.8 The amicus brief argues that S.B.8 is unconstitutional not only because it infringes on a woman's bodily autonomy, but also because it violates the due process and equal protection rights of future generations. [...]their vision is supported by early Supreme Court case law involving matters like child labor and mandatory education laws, where the Court recognized that democracy would be protected, not dismantled, through families and the state working together to empower people equally. If there are modern versions of human rights that encompass such freedom, the climate crisis and vast developmental inequity worsened by the battle over reproductive rights may trigger their recognition. 1 Damian Carrington, Global heating linked to early birth and damage to babies ' health, scientists find, The Guardian, Jan. 15, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/ian/15/global-heating-linked-early-birth-damage-babies-health.