THE IMPACT OF ABORTION LAWS ON THE RIGHTS OF FUTURE GENERATIONS IN CLIMATE CHANGE LITIGATION.

In their own respects, the United States of America, the Republic of Korea (Korea), and India are three vastly different countries, and their differences are also apparent within their respective legal systems and the legal protections, or lack of, in place on abortion. Throughout the years, these three countries have shifted in three distinct directions with their abortion laws. The United States has regressed in its protection of the right to an abortion. Korea has recently decriminalized abortion for the first time in 2021. And India has continued to pass increasingly progressive abortion laws and abortion rulings over the years since it legalized abortion in 1971. At the same time, growing urgency over climate change and other environmental issues has spurred an increase in climate litigation globally. The rights and representation of future generations in such climate litigation has come under scrutiny in courts. While future generations remain a broad and virtually undefinable class, abortion laws play a role in impacting some members of that class: fetuses. The issue of fetal personhood and the rights of fetuses in abortion litigation and laws adds some definition to a part of the future generation class that activists seek to represent in climate litigation. During such a pivotal time for both abortion rights and climate change, this Note seeks to present a comparative analysis of how abortion laws impact the rights of all future generations in climate litigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]