O DESAFIO DE ROE VS. WADE: UMA DEFESA SEGUNDO O DIREITO COMO INTEGRIDADE

Abstract

This article proposes to analyze, based on Ronald Dworkin’s theory, the political debate that has lasted the four last decades in the USA concerning the constitutional right of abortion, which was established by the US Supreme Court in 1973 in the Roe vs. Wade case. This precedent is being once again challenged by state laws which seek to severely restrain women rights of voluntary interruption of pregnancy, allegedly leaning on traditional and religious moral values. The rekindling of this polemic brings up questionings that intrigue the contemporaneous constitutionalism and may never be able to achieve a single answer, such as what is law and what is its relation to morals? What is the best form of interpreting the Constitution and who is the authority do interpret it? And what is democracy and what are the limits for the political community intervention on individual liberties? We will search some enlightenment to these questions in the Dworkinian theory, which we understand as adequate for comprehending the Roe vs. Wade case for reasons such as the existence of a political morality involved in the complex discussions about the intrinsic value of life and as the understanding of this precedent as constituting an example of practical application of morals and Law argumentative theory as integrity and coherence.

Keywords: Law. Interpretation. Integrity. Moral reading. Democracy. Abortion.