Coming to the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) March 4th this year will be Louisiana’s new abortion law. The case is June Medical Services LLC v. Gee. The law requires physicians doing abortions to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the clinic.
Commonsense court decision?
That seems like a pretty commonsense law for the safety of those undergoing the procedure. The issue in the case is whether the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit’s decision upholding Louisiana’s law conflicts with the Supreme Court’s binding precedent in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt. Star Parker has written a provocative piece carried by Townhall.com about the principles behind the case. Scotusblog.com has a wealth of legal perspective and documentation surrounding the case and others bearing on it.
A “friend of the court” brief supporting the law was just filed. It has the signatures of 207 members of Congress, 39 senators, and 168 House members. The leader of the coalition is Steve Scalise. In a press release, Scalise summarizes the arguments made. It also lists a number of conservative organizations supporting the brief.
There are two things setting this filing particularly apart. One is the sheer volume of congressional signatories, almost 40% of the Senate and House combined. A second is it goes further than just arguing support for the constitutionality of the Louisiana law. The filing suggests the widespread confusion regarding abortion law flows from the confusing premises under which abortion was found constitutional. It goes to the heart of the 1973 Roe v. Wade and the 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey decisions.
Upsetting the apple cart
The brief urges SCOTUS to cast new scrutiny on these two landmark decisions that have defined the abortion legal landscape. Asking SCOTUS to reconsider Roe v. Wade is provocative. It is also courageous and on target. How can we possibly function as a nation when an issue as critical as abortion defies consensus as to its constitutional pedigree as well as its morality? Notably, this has been the case for almost half a century.
Remember when Pastor Rick Warren asked then-presidential candidate Barack Obama, “At what point does a baby get human rights, in your view?” Obama’s response a lame, “answering that question … is above my pay grade.” The Declaration of Independence second paragraph starts, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Despite his candor about his inability to clarify the biological and legal status of the unborn child, he didn’t hesitate to be the first sitting American president to address the national meeting of Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, and tell them, “God bless you.” There is a well-known expression from the world of computing that says, “garbage in, garbage out.” It simply means: Faulty premises will produce faulty results and output. This case asserts this is a pretty good summary of what has been happening to American culture since the Roe v. Wade decision.
The effect of Roe Vs. Wade
Once the sanctity of life and its legal protections became ambiguous, our entire culture began to unravel. Don’t believe that? The percentage of American adults married since Roe v. Wade has dropped by one-third. The percentage of children in households with married parents is down 15%, and the percentage of babies born to unwed mothers up over 300%. None of these things is a net positive outcome.
According to Census Bureau data, the last decade is estimated to have the slowest 10-year growth in the U.S. population since the first census was taken in 1790. The Census Bureau forecasts that by 2034, for the first time, there will be more Americans over age 65 than under 18. And 61,628,584 babies have been killed in the womb since 1973 according to the Guttmacher Institute reports.
Conclusion
In the latest Gallup polling, 49% identified as pro-life and 46% as pro-choice. Half of Americans say abortion is “morally wrong,” and 42% say it is “morally acceptable.” For the 47th time, hundreds of thousands will arrive in Washington for the March for Life, noting the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, Jan. 22, 1973. There is growing appreciation for the notion that what’s driving a sense that something is wrong in our nation is ambiguity regarding the sanctity of life. Let’s face it; it doesn’t get any more basic than that. So, Will the Supreme Court rethink Roe vs Wade? I guess we are going to find out.