Learning to Live with the Right to Vote on Abortion

Most of the time I hate to say “I told you so”; however, this is not one of those times. There has been a purposeful leak of a draft opinion which, if made final, would overturn Roe v. Wade and right a wrong from nearly fifty years ago. Chief Justice John Roberts has confirmed that the draft opinion is accurate. The draft opinion identifies Justice Samuel Alito – one of the lions of “originalists” on the court – as the author and at least four other justices appearing to concur: Justice Clarence Thomas, Justice Neil Gorsuch, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and Justice Amy Coney Barrett. (Chief Justice Roberts is rumored to support the decision but not necessarily the language of the majority – watch for him to produce a labored opinion dealing with stare decisis.)

But returning to “I told you so” on September 1, 2020, I wrote:

“This past weekend we were at church and the parish priest made reference to Respect Life Month which begins with Respect Life Sunday on October 4, 2020. As in past years there will be activities, sermons, and calls for action. And as in past years while it will rekindle our focus, it remains a rather muted response to a culture of death that began with the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade – a decision that had absolutely no basis in constitutional law and was made up solely to appease the liberal drift of the nation’s political elites in Washington, D.C. who favored abortion. When a court starts talking about “penumbras’ you just know they’re making it all up. For those of you forced to endure a teachers union led education in the Portland Public Schools, ‘penumbra” is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as:

‘a space of partial illumination (as in an eclipse) between the perfect shadow on all sides and the full light’

“Got it? It is something that doesn’t really exist but is made to appear as if it exists. It is a shadow created by the absence of light.”

That is precisely what the draft opinion authored by Justice Alito says albeit with greater ruffles, flourishes and footnotes.

There is not a single mention of abortion in the United States Constitution. The history of United States’ jurisprudence until that fateful day in January of 1973. was decidedly anti-abortion. Every state either banned or highly regulated abortions before Roe v. Wade. And that is the rub. The United States Supreme Court, in one fell swoop, overturned all of the historical, societal and legislative precedence of the United States. All of it, without regard to the concept of a democratic society which places that power within the Congress and the state governments. No debate, no amendments, no votes. Bang – yesterday abortion was an issue for the states, now there was an absolute ban on any attempts to legislate or regulate the issue of abortion. It was all over, and the liberal/progressives won another societal issue without the difficult work of convincing the populace and the legislative bodies that abortion should not be limited or regulated in any way. It also breathed life into an agenda of the far left to change society not by the democratic means but rather by packing the federal court system with liberals and assuming that the populace would go along believing there was no way to buck the judiciary. But the real rub is that now that the liberal/progressive agenda has been undone in exactly the same fashion as it began – judicial fiat – you would think the world has ended.

The liberal/progressives – well mostly the liberal/progressive politicians – aided by their publicity arm in the mainstream media – have begun a public rendering of the unrestrained grief of parents who have lost a child. There is the renting of clothes. (For those of you forced to endure a teachers union led education in the Portland Public Schools, the renting of clothes referred to the tradition of the tearing of your clothes to express despair as described in the Bible.) There is the pulling of hair and the gnashing of teeth. The only thing lacking thus far is self-emolation. But sure as God made little green apples, some moron will attempt that also. Of course the irony here is that those acts of grieving are usually associated with the loss of a child while the liberal/progressives have embraced them to demonstrate the grief that comes with no longer having constitutional protection to kill a child.

A good example of that nonsense was displayed by Portland City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty – an ardent liberal/progressive who appears to be offended by virtually everything that happens in life. Ms. Hardesty announced last week that she had suspended fund raising, and, as described by KOIN 6 News, urged supporters to donate to abortion providers, stating:

“I cannot remember a time when I was not pro-choice. As a youth, I listened to the conversations of older women who told horror stories about botched back-alley abortions. I was raised to believe ‘my body, my choice’. Now 50 years later we are on the perilous edge with news that our constitutional right to abortion may be ended by the U.S. Supreme Court. In response, I am pausing my campaign fundraising today and urging my supporters and other political campaigns to redirect donations to abortion providers and advocates,”

If true, that is a little overboard. Here is what is going to happen in Portland, Oregon, and Oregon in general, if the United States Supreme Court does in fact adopt the draft opinion this June.

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That’s right. Nothing. Planned Parenthood will continue providing unrestricted taxpayer funded abortions on demand up to and at the moment of birth. Likewise, Washington, California, New York and elsewhere in nearly half of the states.

Wait, that was an overstatement on my part. Because in addition to nothing changing in Portland and Oregon, there will be an increase in riots, burning, looting and physical confrontation by the Portland mob and Ms. Hardesty and other hand wringers on the Portland City Council will do nothing to protect the innocent. In case you missed it, the mob did precisely that in Keizer last weekend when it firebombed a Right to Life facility.

Somewhere, but not in Portland, not in the Willamette Valley, and not in Oregon, there will be an open, well intended debate on the role of abortion in society. I will champion the end to unrestricted, taxpayer funded abortion on demand. I will be satisfied, from a legal standpoint, if the citizens of any given state are given the opportunity to vote on such a proposition – either directly or through their elected representative in the state legislature. One size will not fit all and, therefore, the Congress and its corrupt members should keep their collective noses out of it.