Four global models of abortion regulation include the model of “privacy”, of which the United States was a prime example until a recent Supreme Court decision declared that there is no constitutional right to obtain a medically safe abortion.

Moral decisions such as whether an individual is entitled to terminate a pregnancy, the court declared, should be made by elected state policymakers, not the Supreme Court.

While religion and human rights often seem to clash, in this lecture and discussion Professor John Witte Jr will argue that religion and human rights ultimately need each other.