Choosing Life for the Right Reasons
By Joe Mariani (01/25/06)
The 1973 Roe v. Wade decision made by the Supreme Court was arguably the worst abuse of judicial power ever committed in this country. No other Supreme Court decision has caused so much death, nor caused so many people to become so callous about the taking of innocent life. Roe v. Wade was a severe blow to the moral fiber of America... which is why Liberals must fight so fiercely to protect it from Americans, even after all these years. Abortion is THE issue in any political ring, despite Democrat protests that they don't have a litmus test for candidates and judges. That's a bit like the College of Cardinals claiming they don't have a! litmus test to approve only Catholic candidates for Pope.
The Supreme Court's decision was based on a right to privacy that is presumed to exist, one of the "others retained by the people" mentioned in the Ninth Amendment. The "right to abortion" was supposedly discovered in mysterious "emanations" of "penumbras" surrounding the Bill of Rights. In other words, the Bill of Rights doesn't actually mention abortion at all, but the Court wanted to find a way to force the Federal government to protect it.
The Bill of Rights, one must remember, is not a document that grants rights to the people... instead, its purpose is to limit the Federal government's power to encroach upon the rights of both people and states. If an issue isn't specifically mentioned in the Constitution, the Federal government has no automatic right of jurisdiction in the matter. The Tenth Amendment specifically states: "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."
The Supreme Court decided that abortion was too important to let the hoi polloi have a say, and removed the right of either states or people to decide the question by creating a new Federal power with a pen stroke. No matter what you may think of abortion, Roe v. Wade is a bad ruling: judicial activism at its worst.
And worse, it's a bad ruling based on a falsehood, one that has become so essential to Liberals that they repudiate any evidence that runs the danger of altering the conclusion. Abortion can only be legal as long as unborn children aren't considered human. That's the debate we really need to have.
Many Liberals continue to insist that an unborn child i! s about the same, medically speaking, as a wart or tumor. One doesn't need permission to have a wart removed, nor does a tumor have any constitutionally protected rights. As long as they can pretend that an unborn child isn't a human being (though they never seem to say what it might be, in that case), the Left can argue in favor of abortion. They call this "choice," as though opponents of abortion are opposed to making choices. The difference is that abortion opponents usually believe that "choice" is what you make when you get into a bed or a car and the clothes come off. In the real world, choices may lead to unwanted consequences, and killing an innocent life you created is no way to avoid them.
So how can we know whether an unborn child is human, and thus protected by! law? Science and reason may help us find the correct answer. To be human is to be a member of the species Homo sapiens sapiens. One's species is determined by one's unique genetic makeup, which is formed at conception and never alters (at least, not in nature). An unborn child is, therefore, demonstrably human -- a living creature with unique human DNA -- and he or she should be entitled to at least some legal protection.
Returning to the Bill of Rights, the Fifth Amendment states: "No person shall be ... deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." Allowing one person to deprive another of life without due process is a violation of the latter's Fifth Ame! ndment rights. Taking the lives of the most helpless of human beings because they are inconvenient -- the reason almost all abortions are performed -- is simply wrong.
The Left's biggest fear is that Judge Sam Alito, if confirmed to the Supreme Court, will overturn Roe v. Wade. The ruling could only be overturned if a state abortion ban like the one proposed in Ohio is challenged by pro-abortion groups, and comes before the Supreme Court. Even if the Court does overturn it, the only effect would be to return the abortion decision to the states, where it belongs. When that happens, the damage done to the Constitution in 1973 will be healed, and the debate over the fate of unborn children can begin in earnest, instead of being suppressed by fictional constitutional "rights."
Many state legislatures, more responsive to actual voters than the Federal government, would regulate or abolish abortion. In 2004, the Associated Press reported that thirty states were preparing to ban abortion if Roe v. Wade was overturned. (Of course, the story may have been exaggerated in an attempt to frighten voters into defeating President Bush's re-election.) Some states might throw the question open for the people to decide by direct referendum.
That's how the Founders intended such unanticipated questions be addressed, but the thought of regular people making real choices is a fearful thing to Liberals. It's strange to see people who supposedly advocate "choice" insisting that people have no say in their own laws.
http://guardian.blogdrive.com/archive/cm-01_cy-2006_m-01_d-24_y-2006_o-0.html
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