Today is the 35th Anniversary of the Roe v Wade decision.
From Wikipedia:
According to the Roe decision, most laws against abortion in the United States violated a constitutional right to privacy under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The decision overturned all state and federal laws outlawing or restricting abortion that were inconsistent with its holdings. Roe v. Wade is one of the most controversial and politically significant cases in U.S. Supreme Court history. Its lesser-known companion case, Doe v. Bolton, was decided at the same time.See Wikipedia entry here.
The central holding of Roe v. Wade was that abortions are permissible for any reason a woman chooses, up until the "point at which the fetus becomes ‘viable,’ that is, potentially able to live outside the mother's womb, albeit with artificial aid. Viability is usually placed at about seven months (28 weeks) but may occur earlier, even at 24 weeks." The Court also held that abortion after viability must be available when needed to protect a woman's health, which the Court defined broadly in the companion case of Doe v. Bolton. These court rulings affected laws in 46 states.
South Dakota and Mississippi have tried unsuccessfully to ban abortion. In South Dakota, the governor signed a bill banning abortion, but the citizens overturned that ban in a referendum, which shows (yet again) that the majority of Americans support unfettered access to safe and legal abortions. Mississippi's bill failed when the state's senate and house failed to reach a compromise, which shows (yet again) that the majority of elected officials are not really interested in banning a safe medical procedure they know will be replaced with unsafe, illegal procedures.
Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Dakota and South Dakota have since passed laws that will automatically pass into law the moment Roe v. Wade is overturned. These are called trigger laws, and hopefully will be done away with irrespective of the status of Roe v. Wade.
Fortunately, thinking people in California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Nevada and Washington, have passed laws protecting the legality of abortion, irrespective of federal mandate.
It is important to vote Pro-Choice. This means viting for a liberal. I recommend John Edwards or Dennis Kucinich, two politicians whose commitment to supporting abortion rights is solid. If you must vote for a more conservative candidate, please consider the black guy over the white woman, but I don't trust either of them with the future of abortion rights (or anything else). If you're a Republican, then Giuliani is your only real choice for a candidate who supports access to abortion (good luck).
NARAL (the National Abortion Rights Action League, previously known as the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws, before Roe v. Wade was decided) has been doggedly protecting a woman's right to reproductive freedom since 1969. Please consider a donation to NARAL today. Click here.
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5 comments:
Equal rights for unborn women. In China, millions of innocent females have been aborted due to their gender. This is still going on today. God loves the children scheduled to be aborted tomorrow just like he loves the victims of 911.
If we continue to tolerate premeditated violence against innocent human life, we will have lost all basis to claim any rights for ourselves as human beings. The foundation of what made America great is being destroyed.
You want to protect freedom of choice to do what? Think deeply about what "rights" you are wanting to protect. You were once in the womb yourself. This is human life. It is not monkey life, it is human life, and as your life is intricately valuable, so every life is intricately valuable. If you promote a philosophy that ultimately makes the unborn human life so cheap that it is undeserving of any legal protection, then you will devalue all human life in society, including your own.
I will vote for the person who protects a women's right to choose!
Dear Anonymous Coward 1-3:
A fetus is not a person. End of story.
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