Rick Perry Categorizes Abortion as a States' Rights Issue

ABC News ^ | July 27, 2011

[ejdrapes]

Rick Perry Categorizes Abortion as a States' Rights Issue
July 27, 2011 8:32 PM
ABC News' Arlette Saenz (@arlettesaenz) reports:

Despite holding personal pro-life beliefs, Texas Gov. Rick Perry categorized abortion as a states’ rights issue today, saying that if Roe v. Wade was overturned, it should be up to the states to decide the legality of the procedure.

“You either have to believe in the 10th Amendment or you don’t,” Perry told reporters after a bill signing in Houston. “You can’t believe in the 10th Amendment for a few issues and then [for] something that doesn’t suit you say, 'We’d rather not have states decide that.'”

The 10th Amendment reads: "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."

[silentreignofheroes]

Perry is right,does’nt make the death of a child right.

[EternalVigilance]

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men..." -- The Declaration of Independence

"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." -- The Preamble, or Statement of Purpose, of the United States Constitution

"No person shall be deprived of life without due process of law." -- The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution

"No State shall deprive any person of life without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." -- The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

"The appellee and certain amici argue that the fetus is a 'person' within the language and meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment. In support of this, they outline at length and in detail the well known facts of fetal development. If this suggestion of personhood is established, the appellant's case, of course, collapses, for the fetus' right to life would then be guaranteed specifically by the Amendment." -- Justice Harry A. Blackmun, Roe vs. Wade, 1973

"You shall not murder." -- Exodus 20:13

"God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that his justice cannot sleep forever." -- Thomas Jefferson

[Grey Eagle]

Gov. Perry is big on states rights issues. That is why he and Obama have clashed so much. You either follow the Constitution or you don’t. He does. He could also do more with a conservative Congress, who confirm conservative justices. Until then, we are at the mercy of a Democratic controlled Senate and an ultra-liberal President.

[RitaOK]

” Since when do States get to decide on life? Isn’t every person entitled to LIFE, liberty and the persuit of happiness? “ <<<<<

You have answered your own logical question actually. The Constitution does not define “personhood”. That’s the crack in the door the pro-choice crowd kicked in.

[EternalVigilance]

At least I would have the option of moving to/living in a state that most reflected my moral and political viewpoints.

So, you want innocent human life protected only by travel inconvenience, rather than by the full force of American law and justice.

[bimboeruption]

Was the issue of slavery left up to the states?

[liberty or death]

It’s not a “State” it’s the citizens of that State who vote these decisions. I would rather have Californication abort and gay marriage itself into the obvious cesspool/oblivion that it wills itself to be and not have any authority to then make Montana follow their same laws.

With all of the votes the pro-abort gay states have in our House of reps the only answer is the one the founding fathers gave us and that is states rights.

Rick has this right.

[Longbow1969]

No, it would not. The candidate I supports supports a reversal of Roe v. Wade AND an Amendment granting rights to the unborn.

Yes it would. Abortion was a state issue before Roe, and it will be a state issue once Roe is overturned.

If you kill someone, it is your state that prosecutes and imprisons you - not the federal government.

The right course of action is overturning Roe and letting the states go about the business of restricting and banning the murder of unborn babies.

[Arthur McGowan]

The “intent” of the authors of the amendment is not relevant. What is relevant is the WORDS. The amendment does not refer to “former slaves” or to “negroes.” The amendment forbids the states to deny “any person” the “equal protection of the laws.”

Would it be a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment if a state declared that its homicide laws protect white people only? Of course it would. Just so, it is a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment if a state holds that its homicide laws apply only to people who live outside the womb.

People who claim that the Fourteenth Amendment “only applies to blacks” are ignoring the plain meaning of the WORDS of the amendment.

[EternalVigilance]

The Constitution does not define “personhood”.

Yes, it does. It states as its crowning purpose the protection of "Posterity." Which of course not only includes the unborn, it includes those who are not even yet conceived.

People forget, that when they destroy the child in the womb, they are not just killing the one child. They are annihilating an entire bloodline, they are extinguishing posterity.

And, our nation's charter, the Declaration of Independence, the first part of the organic law of the United States, defines when every single life begins as well: at creation.

And it goes on to explain that the protection of the equal God-given right to life of every indiviudal is the very reason for being of all human government.

[UnwashedPeasant]

"Perry is right."

You can say that again. Anyone who does not agree is a supporter of Roe V. Wade, which makes abortion a Federal issue, in violation of the 10th Amendment.

[RitaOK]

” So, you want innocent human life protected only by travel inconvenience, rather than by the full force of American law and justice. “ <<<

Which institutional “force of American law and justice”?
The federal Law or state Law? I take my chance on state law. Yes, that means you can move to suit your morality.

[Arthur McGowan]

The Constitution takes for granted that every human being, every member of “the people,” is a person.

The disjunction between a “human” and a “person” is a post-Constitutional fiction of totalitarians, who, having introduced it, exploit it to murder whom they will.

[EternalVigilance]

The right to life is without question the supreme right.

I wonder how many of those here who are following Rick Perry down the “states’ rights trumps unalienable rights,” “pro-choice for states” primrose path, would like to explain how their “logic” holds up while substituting any other God-given, unalienable right for the supreme right.

Such as:

Free speech.
Freedom of the press.
The right to peaceably assemble.
The right of free political association.
Religious liberty.
The right to petition government for redress of grievances.
The Right to Keep and Bear Arms.
A fair trial by a jury of your peers.
Parental rights.

I’ve asked folks who take this position this a zillion times, and they, unsurprisingly, just can’t deal with the question.

[untwist]

Perry’s position is in line with mine. The states were for the most part holding true to the Constitutional right to life. It was a liberal Supreme Court that decided that they would play God and determine what is human life and what is not. The old goat Justice Brennan in his late days even admitted that they made a mistake and he did not foresee the problems that Roe v. Wade would cause.

This critical decision belongs in the hands of the people. We only do as much in determining the fates of the worst murderers in our country. Some states have capital punishment, some do not. In all cases, the “rights” of the condemned are followed to the end. Hell, in my state of FL, we have some Death Row inmates who committed their crimes in the 1960’s and 70’s. We need the same concerns about the rights of the unborn and the Supreme Court took it away from us.

[ejdrapes]

So if a State decided to legalize murder that would be OK under the 10th amendment?

[RitaOK]

” Yes, it does. It states as its crowning purpose the protection of “Posterity.” Which of course not only includes the unborn, it includes those who are not even yet conceived. “ <<<

Posterity hinges on born individuals in the absence of a declaration of “personhood”. That is why the born individual was granted the privacy rights, which was the cornerstone argument for Roe v. Wade. I don’t mean to argue with your moral correctness, but Roe could not have passed had personhood been defined and then held precedents over privacy. Perhaps states could define personhood.

[EternalVigilance]

The first sworn constitutional duty of all officers of government, in every branch, at every level, is to protect the right to life of every person within their jurisdiction.

"No person shall be deprived of life without due process of law." -- the Fifth Amendment

"No State shall deprive any person of life without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." - the Fourteenth Amendment

“The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution..." -- Article VI, the United States Constitution

[ejdrapes]

As far as I’m concerned an unalienable right is not something that a State or another person(s) can grant me. It comes from God.

[EternalVigilance]

Here's your definitive definition.