Black and white photograph of the front of the Supreme Court. Pro-abortion protestors stand holding signs, one of which reads "I stand with Whole Woman's Health"

Call for Submissions: Journal of Law and the Biosciences Special Issue on Abortion Law

American law on reproduction seems likely to change, perhaps radically, in 2022, as the U.S. Supreme Court considers challenges to state laws limiting abortion. In Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the Court is considering a substantive Mississippi ban on almost all abortions after 15 weeks; in Whole Woman’s Health v. Jackson and United States v. Texas, the Court is considering the more procedural Texas “bounty hunter” statute for enforcing a ban on abortions after about five weeks.

In anticipation of the Court rulings on these cases, the Journal of Law and the Biosciences will publish a limited number of submissions as a two-part special issue on this general topic. The issue will focus on abortion law, but also include near-future issues for other human reproductive practices and technologies.

Part I will appear by May 1, which is likely to be eight weeks before the Supreme Court’s decision in the Mississippi case. Part II, which will include rapid responses to the decision, will appear by October 1, on the eve of the next Supreme Court term. Submissions for Part I are due no later than February 1, 2022; submissions for Part II are due August 1, 2022. Our general publication policies, including exclusive submission and peer review, are set out on our webpage.

Submissions for this issue could be either articles or essays as described in those instructions. We particularly encourage shorter, tightly focused pieces. In this context, we do not consider “speculative” a disadvantage.

Feel free to contact us by email with questions about this issue, or our journal more generally, through our Managing Editor, Sarah Rispin Sedlak, at sarah.rispin.sedlak@duke.edu.

Glenn Cohen, Nita Farahany, and Hank Greely

Editors in Chief, The Journal of Law and the Biosciences

The Petrie-Flom Center Staff

The Petrie-Flom Center staff often posts updates, announcements, and guests posts on behalf of others.

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