To: Bryan
You argue that murder is against the law and that abortion is murder. Fine.
For most of our history murder was not a Federal Crime if committed within a states' jurisdiction. Murder was handled by the States, with the Navy and Army being a separate jurisdiction. Why was this so? Neither Congress nor the People believed that the US Constitution permitted the Federal Government to outlaw Murder within the jurisdiction of a state.
For the same reason the Federal Government did not (does not) have the Constitutional authority to mandate what a person can or cannot do with their own body.
Amendment Nine: The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Amendment Ten: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
If the Ruling Elite of this country were constrained by the 9th and 10th Amendments, barring an amendment, "the people" retain the god-given, not gov't granted, right of ownership of their bodies. Note: There is "still" no federal law against home schooling, gambling or prostitution, for the reasons mentioned above. (btw, this means, no FDA, no medication by prescription only, no federal drinking age, no gun registration, no affirmative action, no intergration, no federally mandated bussing, no Americans with Disabilities Act. . .)
However, there is no reason, other than an outta control SCOTUS and Congress, why individual states should not be able to outlaw abortion, as their citizens see fit.
Granted, both the liberals and conservatives have twisted the federal Constitution to suit their ends. While it is an axiom that the End ahould never justify the Means, Congress, the President and the People have allowed this destruction of our Ruling Document.
In one sense, those of you who oppose Abortion are just reaping what you, yourself, have sown, a nation where the people are ruled.
To: The Shootist
Abortion was illegal for centuries under English common law and Justice Blackmun acknowledged that when he drafted Roe vs. Wade. It was a "great misprision" or great misdemeanor. Under modern statutes, a Class A misdemeanor is punishable by up to 364 days in the county jail. English common law was well-known to the authors of the Bill of Rights, and they adopted it in its entirety as the basis of American law. I agree that Congress has vastly exceeded the powers that were granted by the Constitution. In particular, Congress should have nothing to do with education. But the states, like heroin addicts, are hooked on that federal money.
60 posted on
09/10/2002 1:35:07 PM PDT by
Bryan
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson