Interstate Pre-emption: The Right to Travel, The Right to Life, and the Right to Die

Abstract

State laws differ, and they differ on issues of tremendous importance to the ways that we conduct our lives. Abortion and the right to die are two issues on which state law intersects with deeply held moral convictions, and on which state laws vary. With so much hanging in the balance, it is not surprising that those who find themselves outvoted or outmaneuvered in local political processes sometimes seek a legal climate more compatible with their beliefs about human decency and dignity. The right to "vote with one's feet" - to travel or move to another state and trade a law one finds repugnant for a better one - is defined and circumscribed by the constitutional limitations peculiar to the conflict of laws.