U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, in the leaked draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, cited Sir Matthew Hale as one of the “eminent common-law authorities.” Alito cites him to show how abortion was viewed historically not as a right, but as a criminal act.
Hale wrote about abortion in the late 1600s, but cites no precedents for his claims because there were none. Hale also believed in witches and personally sentenced three women to death (before the Salem Witch Trials) for that crime. He had a very dim view of women, considering them useless, feeble-minded, squanderers of estates, and who occupied themselves with makeup, fashions, and gossip.
Hale was somewhat of an extremist even in his own time, holding some views that were regarded as anachronistic. This is the eminent authority on abortion that Alito uses to justify his own opinions.
Alito wrote, “Two treatises by Sir Matthew Hale likewise described abortion of a quick child who died in the womb as a ‘great crime’ and a ‘great misprision.’” Even before quickening (when movement is detected, usually between the 16th and 18th week), Hale believed an abortion could qualify as homicide if the woman died as a result, and Alito quotes Hale on this.
I'm not sure how much, if any, of this draft made it into the Supreme Court's final decision overturning Roe v. Wade. But the draft itself is damning enough. Alito cites Hale as an authority. A judge from the 1600s who sentenced women to death for witchcraft, who had scathing views of the nature of women, and who wrote legal treatises with opinions pulled out of thin air.
https://www.propublica.org/article/abortion-roe-wade-alito-scotus-hale, May 6, 2022
