Abortion Decision
I've seen many people on both sides of the abortion debate say the recent decision is one step toward the reversal of Roe v. Wade.
They are all wrong. :-)
Remember what Roe actually said, which Casey affirmed, which now Carhart has affirmed (explicitly, in all cases): the "confirmation of the State's power to restrict abortions after fetal viability, if the law contains exceptions for pregnancies which endanger the woman's life or health."
What part of "confirmation of the State's power to restrict abortions after fetal viability, if the law contains exceptions for pregnancies which endanger the woman's life or health" do you not get?
What Carhart did do is strike down some of the mythology of Roe and Casey, the utterly false belief that either case established a right to abortion after viability.
I know there's more to it than this, but this is the essential point: Congress could pass a law saying that no abortion is permitted after viability, unless the life or health of the mother is in jeopardy, and this law would be entirely Constitutional under both Roe and Casey.
They are all wrong. :-)
Remember what Roe actually said, which Casey affirmed, which now Carhart has affirmed (explicitly, in all cases): the "confirmation of the State's power to restrict abortions after fetal viability, if the law contains exceptions for pregnancies which endanger the woman's life or health."
What part of "confirmation of the State's power to restrict abortions after fetal viability, if the law contains exceptions for pregnancies which endanger the woman's life or health" do you not get?
What Carhart did do is strike down some of the mythology of Roe and Casey, the utterly false belief that either case established a right to abortion after viability.
I know there's more to it than this, but this is the essential point: Congress could pass a law saying that no abortion is permitted after viability, unless the life or health of the mother is in jeopardy, and this law would be entirely Constitutional under both Roe and Casey.
"It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt."
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