Roedid not prohibit states from issuing such value
judgments.
Justice Antonin Scalia wrote a separate concur-
rence in favor of overturningRoe. Scalia argued that
abortion was a political issue that should be under
the domain of state legislatures. Justice Sandra Day
O’Connor, also a part of the majority, also wrote a
separate concurrence. She agreed with the majority
that the trimester system ofRoewas problematic but
indicated that there was no need to modify it inWeb-
ster. Instead, she argued that the performance of
tests to determine the viability of a fetus after twenty
weeks gestational age did not impose an “undue bur-
den” on a pregnant woman’s abortion decision.
Justice Harry A. Blackmun, who had written the
Court’s decision inRoe, concurred in part and dis-
sented in part. He was joined in his partial dissent by
William Brennan and Thurgood Marshall, while
John Paul Stevens wrote a separate opinion, also
concurring in part and dissenting in part. Blackmun
argued that the majority’s decision challengedRoe
and other legal precedents that established the no-
tion of an individual’s right to privacy. He indicated
that the Missouri law and other state laws restricting
abortion services would lead to an increase in un-
safe, illegal abortions.
Impact Following the Supreme Court’sWebsterde-
cision, advocates on both sides of the abortion de-
bate disputed state regulatory measures concerning
when and under what conditions a woman could
seek an abortion in the light ofRoe. TheWebstercase
signaled to states that abortion regulation was con-
stitutionally permissible, laying the foundation for
later decisions permitting further regulation.
Further Reading
Craig, Barbara Hinkson, and David M. O’Brien.
Abortion and American Politics.Chatham, N.J.:
Chatham House, 1993.
Kerber, Linda K., and Jane Sherron De Hart, eds.
Women’s America: Refocusing the Past. New York: Ox-
ford University Press, 2003.
O’Connor, Karen.No Neutral Ground? Abortion Poli-
tics in an Age of Absolutes. Boulder, Colo.: Westview
Press, 1996.
Segers, Mary C., and Timothy A. Byrnes, eds.Abor-
tion Politics in American States. New York: M. E.
Sharpe, 1995.
Brooke Speer Orr
See also Abortion; Feminism; Supreme Court de-
cisions; Women’s rights.Weinberger, Caspar
Identification U.S. secretary of defense from 1981
to 1987
Born August 18, 1917; San Francisco, California
Died March 8, 2006; Bangor, Maine
As secretar y of defense under President Ronald Reagan,
Weinberger oversaw expenditures of more than $3 trillion to
develop the U.S. militar y. This development of personnel
and technology provided the basis for an aggressive foreign
policy that was directed at victor y in the Cold War; it also
contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union early in the
next decade.
After graduating from Harvard Law School (1941)
and serving in the U.S. Army in the Pacific theaterThe Eighties in America Weinberger, Caspar 1037
U.S. secretary of defense Caspar Weinberger.(U.S. Deparment
of Defense)