OPINION:
Polling has consistently shown that the American people are conflicted on the politically charged and emotional issue of abortion, but that only a small minority believes that the procedure should be banned in all cases, including cases in which a pregnancy results from rape or incest ,or in which the life of the mother is endangered.
A repeal of the Roe v. Wade decision will not end abortion. It will make the procedure harder to secure, the burden of which will fall predominantly on poor women. In the South, where the procedure would certainly be banned, it would drive to other states those who can afford to travel and would push women without financial means to illegal and likely unsafe providers.
No one celebrates abortion; no one is “pro-abortion,” as some have been disingenously labeled. Many are “pro-abortion rights.” There is a huge dufference.
A conundrum arises in the face of increasingly accepting the elevation of the fetus to the legal status of the equivalence of a human being who has emerged from the womb. If the mother is to be considered to have murdered her baby, how can she be let off scot-free while the abortion provider is made to face legal consequences? Should we not then begin arresting, charging with murder, convicting and sentencing tall women, including teenage girls, who sought and secured an abortion? Would society stand for it?
The Supreme Court is held in disrepute by increasing numbers of Americans who accurately perceive it to be a political body, one which often acts so as to reverse hard-fought rights and liberties, including voting, civil and worker rights, as well as the rights of women. As it moves to make abortion more difficult to secure and/or to pave the way for abortion’s illegality in many states, the court may find it has overplayed its hand.
OREN SPIEGLER
Peters Township, Pa.
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