2014 Reports

Women’s Rights and the First Amendment

Casiello, Ashley Michelle; Smith, Raymond Arthur

For many people, the First Amendment represents the spirit of American liberty. It promises to protect citizens’ freedom to exercise their own religion, their freedom of speech and of assembly, their freedom of the press, and lastly of petition, but when the interests of one’s group’s freedoms contest with another group’s rights, conflict arises. This has frequently been the case with women’s rights, and debates over issues ranging from pornography to abortion, even including religious modesty, persist today.