Clarence Thomas: Abortion has potential to 'become a tool of eugenic manipulation'

Justice Clarence Thomas said Tuesday the Supreme Court will not be able to duck the issue of abortion forever and raised concerns about the potential for abortion to “become a tool of eugenic manipulation.”

Thomas’ warning came in a concurring opinion in which he agreed with a decision by the Supreme Court not to review a provision of an Indiana law that bans abortion on the basis of race, sex, or disability. In an unsigned opinion, the high court upheld another provision of the law that mandates the burial or cremation of fetal remains after an abortion.

The measures at the center of the dispute were signed in 2016 by then-Gov. Mike Pence.

Thomas wrote that “further percolation may assist” the court’s review of the abortion restrictions but argued the Indiana law and others like it “promote a state’s compelling interest in preventing abortion from becoming a tool of modern-day eugenics.”

“Although the court declines to wade into these issues today, we cannot avoid them forever,” Thomas wrote in his 20-page concurring opinion. “Having created the constitutional right to an abortion, this court is dutybound to address its scope.”