Medical advances may one day lessen the legal dispute over abortion rights, says Ruth Bader Ginsburg, soon to become the second woman to serve on the Supreme Court.
"Science is going to put this decision in women's own hands and the law will become largely irrelevant," Ginsburg told reporters Sunday after receiving an award from an American Bar Association group.One day, she said, "a woman will be able to purchase at a pharmacy what she needs to determine whether or not to bear a child."
Ginsburg, who is to be sworn in Tuesday, said she looks forward to being a Supreme Court justice with "a combination of exhilaration, awe, exhaustion and great anticipation for the most wonderful challenge a lawyer can have."
She will serve with Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who became the high court's first female justice in 1981.
"I think it will make a difference. Justice O'Connor agrees with me in that respect," Ginsburg said. "When you are the only woman, all eyes are on you."
Being the second woman on the high court is "a sign that being a woman in a place of importance is no longer extraordinary, and it will become more and more natural," she said.