Roe V. Wade is in the news again

The pending retirement of Justice Kennedy has triggered a lot of conversation in the last week or so. The Democrats are still smarting over the fact that Merrick Garland was cheated out of his rightful place on the court, and the Republicans are happy about the fact that Donald Trump was able to get a conservative judge (Neil Gorsuch) appointed to the Court. The fact that three dubious cases were decided this past week by a 5-4 vote (Texas redistricting, public employee union dues, and the Muslim ban) should be cause for concern by BOTH political parties, but most of the anguish will be on the liberal side.

The fear of many folks on the liberal side is that the 1973 case of Roe v Wade will be weakened if Trump gets another conservative judge on the bench. Since Trump has a long track record of nominating the worst possible people for positions (including the members of his cabinet) there is certainly probable cause to be worried. Since Trump’s selection is scheduled to be made public on July 9, we’ll know in the near future if we should be concerned. However, there IS speculation that Chief Justice Roberts will now swing more to the center, which may help keep things on an even keel. Regardless of who is chose, though, Republican Senator Susan Collins has gone on record that she will not approve any candidate who does not support Roe v. Wade, so things are going to get very interesting in the near future.  

Just like gun control and immigration, abortion is simply one of those topics that always generates the strongest emotions. Before you go any further, though, read the article below, which I published in January of 2011.

https://tohell-andback.blogspot.com/2011/01/roe-vs-wade.html

Once you are done doing that, I would next recommend reading “Scarlet A’, a novel by a professor named Katie Watson, I read it earlier that year, and found it to be the MOST comprehensive coverage of all sides of the issue that I have ever read. Another book that is worth reading is Jodi Picoult's book titled, "A Spark of Light". One fact that stands out in the book is that in Mississippi, there is only ONE abortion clinic in the entire state, and there is a law on the books that a woman who gets an abortion ban be tried for murder, and receive the death penalty.

How in the world can that be considered pro-life ?

Although abortion is prohibited by virtually all religions, the fact of the matter is that religion has little bearing on which women will have abortion, since Catholic women choose the procedure just as often as women in the general population.

 https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2018/01/24/catholics-are-just-likely-get-abortion-other-us-women-why

The real surprise this year was that abortion was legalized in Ireland, which is considered one of THE most Catholic countries in the world. By the time all the votes were counted, the “yes” votes were 66.4% of the total for the referendum, which was known informally as “Savita’s law”. Although the article posted below goes into more detail, the short version is that a 31 year old dentist named Savita Halappanavar was not allowed to induce a miscarriage for her brain dead fetus, and died as a result.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/26/ireland-votes-by-landslide-to-legalise-abortion

A little closer to home, a local columnist named Joanna Allhands had a very similar experience 4 years ago, and recently published her story in the paper:

https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/joannaallhands/2018/07/03/nicole-arteaga-walgreens-miscarriage-prescription-abortion-debate/753252002/

The irony of the abortion issue is that both sides have the same goal in mind – fewer abortions. Unfortunately, too many members of the Republican Party are following precisely the WRONG approach to solving the problem.

The number of abortions performed annually in America is at a 40 year low. The ONLY ways to reduce the number of abortions even further are (1) mandatory comprehensive sex education for ALL high school and middle school students (2) INCREASED funding for Planned Parenthood and (3) elect public officials who aren’t under the sway of extremist groups like the Center for Arizona Policy.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_Arizona_Policy

Your personal sex life is nobody’s business but yours, unless you are a public figure, and your sex life is inappropriate (think Harvey Weinstein, Bill O'Reilly, and Bill Cosby, for starters, but don't forget to include Brett Kavanagh.

For the same reason that doctors don’t write laws, politicians should not be allowed to interfere in medical decisions that you and your doctor make in the privacy of his office.

 I’ve seen enough fireworks in my lifetime that I don’t need to be sitting outside this coming Wednesday, but I have a feeling that once Trump announces his nominee for the Supreme Court, the fireworks will start in earnest in Washington, D.C.

Enjoy the show!

Fireworks pic