However, the following statements DO APPEAR in the Constitution:
Amendment V:
...nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law;...Amendment XIV, Section 1:
...No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
If the unborn baby is a person, it is unconstitutional for the federal or any state government to pass a law that would deprive the baby's rights.
The whole issue, and this is even acknowledged in Roe, is whether or not the unborn baby is a person.
Keep in mind that the last time Americans decided to define persons as nonpersons it ended VERY BADLY.
The entire "pro-choice-by-state" approach is absurd. What it is implying is that one state can declare persons to not be persons.
Moreover, there is NO EVIDENCE to suggest that this approach would make any actual dent in the number of abortions being performed. A handful of liberal states like New York, Illinois and California are responsible for the overwhelming majority of abortions and the "pro-choice-by-state" crowd openly acknowledges that these states WILL NOT outlaw abortion. Well over 95% of the people in the continental US live within a day's drive of an abortuary in a state that will never ban abortion if given the option.
I think some states fought a war over that same idea......
You are correct, and especially correct that it remains an "issue". That issue is whether or not the Constitution and federal law as extant today unequivocally define the unborn child as a person.
A few think that it does, that a President and AG could simply prosecute abortionists under the existing law. I don't agree, I think Congressional action to clarify the Fourteenth is needed. And to keep a future Congress from reversing that action, only an amendment will work.
More and more, Perry is revealed as an unacceptable candidate:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2755072/posts
He’s as WRONG on this as is KHOW’s talk show host, Dan Caplis!!
In NY State abortion was legal before Roe v. Wade.
And should slavery also be a states’ rights issue?
I think most people would not say abortion is a Tenth Amendment issue if over a million Americans THEIR age were murdered each year.