Divisive Issue of Abortion
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One of the most divisive issues in American politics today is abortion, with strong feelings on both sides and with two unyielding perspectives in direct conflict. The pro-life perspective sees human life as beginning at conception, and therefore any abortion for any reason is considered murder. The pro-choice movement sees the issue as being the right of the woman to control her own body, and for this movement abortion is to be provided on demand, with no governmental controls on the matter at all. While there are some pro-life people who make allowances for abortion under some circumstances, such as when the life of the mother is endangered or in the case of rape or incest, the core of the movement holds abortion as wrong under any circumstances. For millions of people in the middle, abortion is allowable under some circumstances, but some controls are also to be allowed. The supreme Court decided the issue in 1972 in the case of Roe v. Wade, a complicated decision with 7 votes affirming that there was a constitutional protection for women seeking an abortion and 2 votes against. There were more than two views of the issues involved and the meaning of the final decision, however. Justice Blackmun wrote the majority decision for Roe v. Wade, affirming the opinion of a total of seven justices that there was a constitutional right to abortion. Blackmun wrote that the state had the right to assert important interests in safeguarding health, in maintaining medical standa
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t and wants there to be such a right.
Of more direct legal importance to roe and later decisions is the idea that there is a need to balance interests. The opponents of Roe found that the majority had gone too far in creating such a balance and in setting in place an elaborate trimester mechanism to make it possible to assess such balance in the future. In fact, a reading of the opinions on both sides demonstrates that in this instance, both sides are correct at least in part. As noted, the opponents believed that the majority was writing a statute, which it may have been. The least convincing argument offered by the minority was that the majority was overturning a statute less restrictive than some in place when the Fourteenth Amendment was adopted. Even if true, it is not clear why this should mean that subsequent Courts would not be able to overturn some of the more restrictive statutes if the nature of constitutional interpretation had moved in that direction. Following Rehnquist and White, it would appear that the country could not change its collective mind and eliminate statutes it had once passed but now deemed onerous.
There are reasons to question the reasoning that went into the Roe v. Wade decision, but this do
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Approximate Word count = 3020
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page)
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