The Constitutional Case Against a Federal Abortion Ban

Welcome to Up for Debate. On Wednesdays, I round up timely conversations and ask readers a thought-provoking question. Later, I publish some of your thoughtful replies. (Were you forwarded this email? Sign up here.)

Question of the Week

What are your thoughts or views about immigration? Feel free to write about politics, policy, culture, or personal experience. Emails about the recent controversy in Martha’s Vineyard are fine, but you needn’t address that particular news story to participate this week.

(If you’re looking for fodder to get you thinking, here’s a New York Times article that gives a sense of how quickly border towns can be overwhelmed by an influx of migrants; an argument for opening America’s borders by Shikha Dalmia; Matthew Yglesias with an immigration policy argument favoring a bipartisan compromise; David Frum and I debating immigration politics; Frum’s skepticism about Ron DeSantis’s approach; a time capsule of how immigration was debated in a Republican primary circa 1980; and Reihan Salam, author of Melting Pot or Civil War, sharing his perspectives on immigration.)

Send your responses to conor@theatlantic.com.

Conversations of Note

Do you remember the text of the 14th Amendment? Every time I recall that it was the basis for finding a right to abortion in the Constitution, I have to look it up anew to do a close read:

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within