The Women of Roe v. Wade

First Things ^ | June/July 2003 | Mary Ann Glendon

[Vindiciae Contra TyrannoSCOTUS]

The Women of Roe v. Wade vs the Nazis of Hitler, or the communists of Stalin:

And most consider the near 6,000,000 Jews murdered as a monstrous crime against humanity by Hitler and his Nazi gang of racists. Few know that they also murdered in cold blood an additional near 14,000,000 Poles, Gypsies, Byelorussians, Ukrainians, Russians, Yugoslavs, Czechs, Frenchmen, and others. Few outside of the Soviet Union know about Stalin's horrors, that he killed people by the tens of millions (I calculate about 43,000,000). RJ Rummel

Rummel needs to include those exterminated by feminists.

[Commander8]

"Rummel needs to include those exterminated by feminists."

HEAR, HEAR!!!

[Diago]

very interesting

[LiteKeeper]

SITREP

[Jeff Chandler]

View

[Bonaparte]

Too bad Glendon neglects to mention, even in passing, that the feminist establishment represented by Friedan and her ilk came right out of the far left. They had every interest in undermining the American institutions of marriage and family and no interest in making American women "whole." Then as now, they are not what they claim.

[Vindiciae Contra TyrannoSCOTUS]

had every interest in undermining the American institutions of marriage and family

Gramsci And The US Body Politic The only way to gain absolute power in the United States is through long-range Gramscian tactics

[Bonaparte]

Exactly! Every last thing the left does makes perfect sense if taken in the Gramscian context. Under the guise of "mainstream" media, political parties, etc. they attack along a broad front, missing no institution, tradition or founding principle. They seek to weaken everything from our national defense to our unity as one people to our morals. Unless you're a liberal, the pattern is unmistakable.

[SuziQ]

We are hearing more voices of women who are in touch with the real-life needs and aspirations of a broad range of women.

I've always liked Dr. Glendon, and this column reminds me why.

[3catsanadog]

Three cheers for the author of this!

A good book to read along this line is "Domestic Tranquility" by someone whose last name is Paglia (I can't remember her first name).

Now it's time to bookmark this.

[Lorianne]

When reading Roe and Doe, it is surprising to see how little they have to say about protecting women and how much they have to do with protecting doctors.

This cannot be overstated. At the time of Roe, women did not have much political clout, and most women were then, as now, morally opposed to abortion. However, demographic groups which did have political clout were, men (in general) and doctors in particular.

Abortion was really never about "women's rights". It still isn't.

[Coleus]

"Roe" and "Doe" Return to Court: "Stop the Carnage!"

Virginia C. Armstrong, Ph.D., National Chairman, Court Watch

The U. S. Supreme Court's elevation of abortion-on-demand to the status of a "fundamental constitutional right" was accomplished with two decisions on January 22, 1973. The more famous of the two cases is the Texas case of Roe v. Wade. But of immense significance also is the neglected step-sister of this devastating decisional duo—the Georgia case of Doe v. Bolton. Now, after the passage of thirty years and the murder of over forty million unborn children, the original plaintiffs are asking the courts to correct the fatal constitutional flaws of the two 1973 decisions and stop the carnage.

Both women reveal in their sworn affidavits that they were manipulated and duped by their attorneys and had no intention of trying to legalize abortion. The former "Roe," Norma McCorvey, on June 17, 2003, asked U. S. District Judge David Godbey in Dallas to reconsider her case and rule the 1973 decision no longer valid. With almost blinding speed, Judge Godbey denied McCorvey's motion. That denial will soon be appealed to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Now, the former "Mary Roe," Sandra Cano, is asking for her day in court, petitioning the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia to reconsider the 1973 constitutionalization of abortion—one of the most barbaric of all medical procedures.

The Georgia law which was originally thrown out by the U. S. Supreme Court in Doe was significantly different from the Texas law invalidated in Roe. The Texas law, basically a "prohibitive" type of legislation, prohibited an abortion except when "necessary to protect the life or the health of the mother." The Georgia law also criminalized abortion, but included several exceptions which were "permissive"—i.e., permitted abortion under much broader circumstances than in Texas. Two differences in the Roe and Doe rulings are fundamental.


Timing of the abortion. The "trimester" scheme for determining the time limits on a woman's "right to an abortion," which was central to Roe, was almost ignored in Doe. The latter decision thus expanded "abortion rights" to encompass virtually the entire pregnancy.

Choice to abort. In Doe, the Court voided the Georgia law's requirement of approval of an abortion by multiple physicians. The Court instead permitted a pregnant woman to choose an abortion upon the advice of a single physician. And this physician needed to justify his judgment to perform an abortion upon no ground other than "his best clinical judgment that an abortion is necessary because continuation of the pregnancy would seriously and permanently injure [the mother's] health." Into the wide-open spaces of this extremely indefinite permission eagerly marched the seven-member majority of the Court, further expanding the law's indefinite permissiveness by authorizing the doctor in exercising "his best clinical judgment" to do so "in the light of all factors—physical, emotional, psychological, familial, and the woman's age—relevant to his patients well-being." Such permissiveness left the choice to abort with no fixed limits.

The San Antonio attorney now representing Roe and Doe, Allan Parker, is employing an unusual legal vehicle to reach the U. S. Supreme Court—a "Rule 60 Motion." A Rule 60 motion asserts that the continued application of an existing judgment is "clearly erroneous" and/or will be productive of a "manifest injustice" due to a change in law or factual circumstances. Parker's procedure is in line with the 1997 U. S. Supreme Court decision in Agostini v. Felton, an establishment of religion case. In that case, the Court granted the Rule 60 motion and over-turned two decisions it had made twelve years earlier.

McCorvey and Cano now present to the courts a massive array of evidence documenting fundamental changes in both law and fact—evidence not available in 1973. Because of these changes, the continued application of the original Roe and Doe ruling will wreak severe injustice, they contend, and the original rulings should be voided.


Relevant changes in factual circumstances include:

A massive body of evidence never before presented to an American court that abortion hurts women—physically, mentally, and emotionally;

Proof that abortion is often not a voluntary, informed decision of the patient, but the result of pressure by others on the woman;

Proof of the humanness of the unborn child provided by such technology as ultrasound, in-utero surgery, DNA technology, and neo-natal care advancements.

Relevant changes in law include

Court redefinition of a "fundamental right," which excludes the right to an abortion;

The direct undermining of abortion-on-demand by abortion decisions since 1973;

The passage by the Texas Legislature (1999) and the Georgia Legislature (2002) of laws providing state care for children so that no mother has to bear the burden of an "unwanted child" about which the Supremes seemed to be so concerned in 1973.

Because of the recent emergence of much of this evidence, the motions for reconsideration of the two 1973 decisions are timely and should be granted. Denial of the motions would perpetuate the injustice of current law and the deception under which this law was framed. The most vulnerable members of society—the unborn child and, very often, their unprotected mothers—will continue to be abandoned by the justice system. Well should the courts reflect on the fact that pregnancy is for nine months; abortion is forever.


FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT:
http://www.blackstoneinstitute.org
http://www.operationoutcry.org

http://priestsforlife.org/testimony/normamaster.htm
http://priestsforlife.org/clippings/99-07-99mccorveyriograndecatholic.htm
http://priestsforlife.org/clippings/95,08-24mccorveymoves.html
http://priestsforlife.org/testimony/normahomily.htm
http://priestsforlife.org/columns/conversionofnorma.html
http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/01/21/mccorvey.interview/

[Coleus]

Feminism is Evil
http://www.nypress.com/14/36/taki/perspectives.cfm
http://www.alongwaytogoforadate.com/author.html

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

The strongest supporters of abortion rights in the United States, as any nineteenth-century feminist could have predicted, are not women—but men in the age group of eighteen to twenty-five.

[MHGinTN]

But it took some time before growing numbers of Catholics, Protestants, and Jews stepped forward to point out that when people advance their moral viewpoints in the public square, they are not imposing anything on anyone. They are proposing. That’s what citizens do in a democracy—we propose, we give reasons, we vote. It’s a very strange doctrine that would silence only religiously grounded moral viewpoints. And it’s very unhealthy for democracy when the courts—without clear constitutional warrant—deprive citizens of the opportunity to have a say in setting the conditions under which we live, work, and raise our children. This is the unveiled reason why the democrat criminal enterprise is so staunchly pushing their obstruction of Bush bench nominees ... the democrats seek to control the social engineering via their continued liberalization of our courts.

It was only after I started to look into how controversial issues like abortion and divorce were handled in other liberal democracies that I realized how my dean’s slogan has been used not only to silence religiously grounded views, but to silence all opposition to abortion. Can anyone cite any other court edict that gives a human being the unrestricted right to hire a serial killer to exterminate another alive individual human being? ... The Roe and Doe rulings have done EXACTLY that ... and democrats continue to defend that indefensible horror as if it is an enlightened social policy to exterminate alive prenatal human beings. The "D's" even have a man running for the presidential race nomination who has done abortions and is proud of that, though he will try his damndest to prevent the full truth from coming out before the boters because he and his criminal party know that Americans still consider aborticutionists to be the scum of the medical 'profession' ... but he'll be a high priest of the demon dems if he's ever elected President.

[cpforlife.org]

MAJOR Pro-Life PING. Great reference work.

Please let me know if you want on or off my Pro-Life Ping List.

“The greatest evil is not done in those sordid dens of evil that Dickens loved to paint but is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried, and minuted) in clear, carpeted, warmed, well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voices.” C. S. Lewis

1973 United States Supreme Court

Note that the only two who voted against the majority in Roe v Wade (against MURDERING babies) are on the right side of the photo. Rehnquist standing and White seated. Now isn’t that interesting….Hmmmm………

[Mr. Silverback]

ProLife Ping!

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[Theodore R.]

The American people think that federal courts look after "them" and promote fairness, justice, and "the American way." The "little guy" on the street who lifts the heavy packages cannot understand what is happening. But surely these liberals in high places are the catalyst for the national breakdown.

[Vindiciae Contra TyrannoSCOTUS]

OUTSTANDING!

[Vindiciae Contra TyrannoSCOTUS]

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