Does Roe Still Matter?

The American Spectator ^ | 1-25-12 | Daniel Allott

[Wolf13]

Earlier this week, abortion and pro-life advocates observed the 39th anniversary of the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision, which, along with its companion case, Doe v. Bolton, recognized abortion to be a constitutionally protected right while giving states some leeway in restricting its availability.

Roe dominates America's abortion debate. If you had asked any of the scores of thousands of pro-lifers who poured into Washington, D.C., on Monday for the annual March for Life to name their most urgent priority, most would have said overturning Roe.

Abortion advocates, meanwhile, talk about Roe as if it were the only thing standing between women and a new era of back alley abortions. As NARAL Pro-Choice America states on its website, "We believe that women should have the option to choose abortion. Today they can, thanks to the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision in 1973."

But Roe may matter less than many people realize -- or perhaps matter for different reasons that commonly thought. Many people mistakenly believe that legal abortion hinges on Roe -- that without Roe abortion would be illegal everywhere in America. But that's not true. If Roe goes, abortion law would revert to the states to decide.

Others mistakenly believe that the number of abortions would drop precipitously if Roe goes. That likely would not happen. Consider how abortion is treated in two states: South Dakota and California.

Relatively few abortions take place in South Dakota because South Dakotans are generally pro-life and elect pro-life lawmakers who have passed a number of restrictions on abortion. They include parental notification laws, bans on public funding of abortion and a requirement that women seeking abortion be given pro-life counseling.

[Jacquerie]

Among my criticisms of Roe, number one was Scotus’ abuse of the Ninth Amendment, “The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”

The Ninth formally Constitutionalized God given rights. To turn it around, to equate abortion with a God given right was a direct assault on our actual God given rights.

[teeman8r]

the enumeration clause should never be disparaged... and is a testiment to the wisdom of the founders...

A God given right to abort is in itself an abortion... abortions end will come with the equal protection clause...

if laws claim a man must support the child after the fact, then why isn’t the woman held to the same responsibility to support...

or why can’t a man just say he is on the hook for half the cost of an abortion, instead of child support.

abortion laws are not equal protection or equally interpreted.

God have mercy on us all.

teeman

[blueunicorn6]

Fat-cat, liberal, Democrat academics in the judicial branch burping-up their lobster and champagne while turning their backs on the slaughter of innocents.

“What?(burp) We’re being inconsistent because abortion helps eliminate all those little people that cause us headaches? I care. I care that my glass is empty. More champagne!”