Justice Dept. Asks High Court to Upset ’73 Abortion Ruling

WASHINGTON —  The Reagan Administration asked the Supreme Court today to overturn its landmark 1973 decision legalizing abortions.

The Justice Department filed the friend-of-the court brief in two cases involving Pennsylvania and Illinois abortion laws that were thrown out by lower courts in decisions now on appeal to the Supreme Court.

It marks the first time since 1954 that the government has asked the high court to overturn its own ruling. In the 1954 case, the government successfully persuaded the court to overturn its 1896 ruling on segregated schools in its historic Brown vs. Board of Education case.

The decision to intervene in the abortion cases was first reported in Saturday’s Los Angeles Times.

The Administration, on record as opposing legalized abortion except when a woman’s life is in danger, argued that the court’s 1973 abortion ruling known as Roe vs. Wade is so sweeping that it prevents states and local governments from enforcing their own abortion laws.

“Indeed, the textual, doctrinal and historical basis of Roe vs. Wade is so far flawed and . . . a source of such instability in the law that this court should reconsider that decision and on reconsideration abandon it,” the Justice Department said.

Limited States’ Role

The high court’s 1973 ruling established that women have a constitutional right to end their pregnancies and greatly limited how states may interfere with that right.

If the ruling were overturned, such a constitutional right would no longer exist. States would be free to impose whatever limits they deemed appropriate--including banning all abortions except those necessary to save a woman’s life.

“It’s incredible, unconscionable, and it’s what we said was going to happen,” said Judy Goldsmith, the president of the National Organization for Women. “The goal of the Administration is to outlaw abortion. In doing so, of course, they will not stop it but make it illegal and deadly.”

The Reagan Administration has tried numerous times to persuade the high court to roll back its decision that legalized abortion, but this is the most direct attack on the 1973 decision.

President Reagan has long complained that the 1973 ruling infringes on states’ rights to limit abortions. Conservatives have made repeated attempts to get a constitutional amendment banning abortion approved by Congress.

Reflects Meese Position

The Administration’s abortion position appears to reflect the often-stated view of Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III that the Justice Department should become more active in the courts in pressing Reagan’s views on such highly charged social issues.

The brief, signed by Acting Solicitor General Charles Fried, argues that the state “has a legitimate interest” in regulating the circumstances under which abortions are performed, saying appellate court decisions which struck down statutes in Illinois and Pennsylvania seeking to control abortions are “multiply flawed.”

It said that Chief Justice Warren E. Burger “has stated his understanding” that the court’s rulings ‘simply require that a state not create an absolute barrier to a woman’s decision to have an abortion.”’