The Atlantic

A Conservative Judge Takes Aim at <em>Roe</em> <em>v. Wade </em>in Face of a Shifting Supreme Court

Judge Bobby Shepherd of the Eighth Circuit has upheld, for now, two Missouri laws restricting abortion that are virtually identical to those struck down in 2016 by the Supreme Court.
Source: Micah Walter / Reuters

Three years ago, Judge Bobby Shepherd of the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a North Dakota law banning abortions after six weeks. But he made clear that he was not happy about it.

“We have no choice” but to follow Supreme Court precedent, he wrote, but there are “good reasons” for the high court “to reevaluate.” Among them: “protecting unborn children” and a “connection between abortion and breast cancer,” which has been thoroughly debunked.

The Supreme Court “reevaluate.” Shepherd generated some clicks online—“The Eighth Circuit Court Embarrasses Itself” was ’s —but his arguments won no favor. , after all, still sat at the

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