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Abortion Protests, the President, and the Supreme Court

By TChris, Section Court Decisions
Posted on Mon Jan 24, 2005 at 04:45:48 PM EST
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by TChris

President Bush told anti-abortion protesters today that their "movement will not fail." So much for the President's recently-sworn oath to defend the Constitution.

David O'Steen, executive director of the National Right to Life Committee, opined that Chief Justice Rehnquist's anticipated retirement "would move the high court in abortion-opponents' favor." Since the Chief is not an advocate of the right to choose, O'Steen's reasoning is difficult to discern.

Meanwhile, the Court declined to review a lower court's holding that South Carolina's "Choose Life" license plates violate the First Amendment because the state denies abortion-rights supporters the same forum in which to express their opinions. The Court frequently reminds the public that its decision not to review an issue should not be seen as a signal that the Court agrees or disagrees with the lower court's result. In this case, the lower court's decision was so obviously correct that the Court had little reason to tackle the question itself.

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    Abortion Protests, the President, and the Supreme Court | 15 comments (15 topical)
    Re: Abortion Protests, the President, and the Supr (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Jan 24, 2005 at 05:29:06 PM EST
    The President is only speaking on how he truly believes. If John Kerry had been elected(choke) President I am quite sure he would of applauded a womans right to choose. In other news, this article makes you wonder if Planned Parenthood is trying to drum up some business. Article

    Re: Abortion Protests, the President, and the Supr (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Jan 24, 2005 at 05:57:06 PM EST
    I'd like to take this opportunity to say that the pro-life position has no Biblical precedent, and its historical precedent is fading fast. I cite Exodus 21:22:
    22When men fight and one of them pushes a pregnent woman and a miscarrige results, but no other damage ensues, the one responsible shall be fined according as the woman's husband may exact from him, the payment to be based on reckoning*. 23But if any other damage ensues, the penalty shall be life for life,


    Re: Abortion Protests, the President, and the Supr (none / 0) (#3)
    by scarshapedstar on Mon Jan 24, 2005 at 06:03:49 PM EST
    Sorry, but as long as Republicans oppose common-sense measures to prevent unwanted pregnancies in the first place, they've got blood on their hands. Abortions will never be prevented, period. The "Christian" Right knows this, and yet they insist that as many unwanted pregnancies occur as possible. It's insane.

    Re: Abortion Protests, the President, and the Supr (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Jan 24, 2005 at 06:19:10 PM EST
    The President took an oath to defend the Constitution, which nowhere mentions abortion, much less provides for a right to abortion. While Roe v. Wade purports to find a right to abortion in the Constitution, reference to the text shows that the Court was wrong--it is simply not there. The President did not take an oath to uphold the Supreme Court's peculiar interpretations of the Constitution. In any event, no governmental body can withdraw the right to life from unborn children. As Augustine said, an unjust law is no law at all. The Court's action in Roe was therefore ultra vires and not binding.

    Re: Abortion Protests, the President, and the Supr (none / 0) (#5)
    by glanton on Mon Jan 24, 2005 at 07:51:56 PM EST
    And to think, Doctor Ace, you were dreaming of compromise on this issue only a day ago. Back to the hardline, "it's murder" caveat, I see.

    Re: Abortion Protests, the President, and the Supr (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Jan 24, 2005 at 08:19:59 PM EST
    Straight from Hillary and DRUDGE: Proposing new political language about abortion rights for an increasingly skittish Democratic Party, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday that friends and foes on the issue should come together on "common ground" to reduce the number of "unwanted pregnancies" and ultimately abortions, which she called a "sad, even tragic choice to many, many women." Clinton, in a speech to about 1,000 abortion rights supporters at the state Capitol, firmly restated her support for Roe v. Wade. But then she offered warm words to opponents of abortion and said that faith and organized religion were the "primary" reasons teenagers abstained from sexual relations.

    Re: Abortion Protests, the President, and the Supr (none / 0) (#7)
    by wishful on Mon Jan 24, 2005 at 08:39:06 PM EST
    Real, was your comment for info only? If so, thanks. If not, what is your point?

    Re: Abortion Protests, the President, and the Supr (none / 0) (#8)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Jan 25, 2005 at 06:50:22 AM EST
    Spainster: What the Constitution provides, as the precedent of at least half a dozen Supreme Court decisions dating back a century states, is a right to privacy in the realm of marriage and family decisions. This includes the right to attend private school, the right to obtain contraception, the right to non-criminalized sexual intercourse, the right to marry a person of a different race. All except the private school decision directly impact on the right of a human being to have complete control over their own body. I will grant that Constitution itself mentions no right to privacy (although I'd love to see someone try to explain to Jefferson that he has no right to conduct his life and home as he sees fit, without government intervention) but stare decisis has laid a solid foundation. I advise everyone to hit the blog "Legal Fiction" and read a lawyer's perspective on the question.

    Re: Abortion Protests, the President, and the Supr (none / 0) (#9)
    by scarshapedstar on Tue Jan 25, 2005 at 09:00:04 AM EST
    Excellent summary, Constance. You must understand, however, that Spainster wasn't taking a deep, principled defense; rather he was using he Founders Fallacy, the notion that if something they don't like is not specifically enumerated in the Constitution, it is Evil. You know, "I don't think the Founders had Janet Jackson/Beavis and Butt-Head/2 Live Crew/Jim Morrison/Elvis Presley (strangely, this never seems to die) in mind when they wrote the Constitution!" The Founders clearly weren't thinking about the AK47 when they wrote the Second Amendment, either, but try to get a wingnut to concede that.

    Re: Abortion Protests, the President, and the Supr (none / 0) (#10)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Jan 25, 2005 at 09:59:04 AM EST
    The President took an oath to defend the Constitution, . . . Everyone who thinks he's ever actually read the Constitution, raise your hand. Now, raise your hand if you think that the Bush twins would ever have to finish pregnancies they didn't want. Hmmmm. Same hands.

    Re: Abortion Protests, the President, and the Supr (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Jan 25, 2005 at 11:31:55 AM EST
    What I don't get is the uproar over all this... Does it really warrant a lawsuit? "Choose Life" license plates violate the First Amendment because the state denies abortion-rights supporters the same forum in which to express their opinions. It seems real simple... just start making "pro abortion" stickers for the back window. Of course hardly anyone will put them on their cars... but you can still sell them & get the money.

    Re: Abortion Protests, the President, and the Supr (none / 0) (#12)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Jan 25, 2005 at 12:02:18 PM EST
    I'll take one, B.B. And was this a joke??
    It seems real simple... just start making "pro abortion" stickers for the back window.
    Gee...uh... why couldn't we just have license plates too. By the way... good luck with your Theocracy, 'cause it will happen in this United States over my dead body. Remember - choose life!

    Re: Abortion Protests, the President, and the Supr (none / 0) (#13)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Jan 25, 2005 at 12:56:55 PM EST
    I'm particularly amused by the unborn child reframing of the debate. The correct term is fetus: In humans, the unborn young from the end of the eighth week after conception to the moment of birth, as distinguished from the earlier embryo. Also, as distinguished from the human infant. It's the same old braying we've heard for so long. It hearkens back to the braying of Melkor, and it sounds just as brash and empty as it did then...

    Re: Abortion Protests, the President, and the Supr (none / 0) (#14)
    by Jlvngstn on Tue Jan 25, 2005 at 02:42:25 PM EST
    Funny how the christians deplore the freedoms not availed to those that live in theocracies, yet firmly believe that more god in our government would be a good thing.

    Re: Abortion Protests, the President, and the Supr (none / 0) (#15)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Jan 26, 2005 at 11:47:13 AM EST
    Posted by TheJew at January 24, 2005 06:57 PM The Bible best fiction novel ever! can just about find anything you want in there, to justify or condemn, those elders who assembled this text sure were cleaver, huh.

    Abortion Protests, the President, and the Supreme Court | 15 comments (15 topical)