
 |
|
June 19, 2013
June 12, 2013
Stephanie Hanes: Little girls or little women? The Disney princess effect
Fred Weir: In tweak to US, Russia would 'consider' asylum for Snowden
June 10, 2013
The Kosher Gourmet by Anjali Prasertong: A tart filling so good it might not make it to the crust
June 5, 2013
John Rosemond: Mom, Dad: Talk More and listen less
Kristen Chick: Egypt court sentences 43 pro-democracy workers to prison
June 3, 2013
Molly Hennessy-Fiske: Military judge to consider letting Fort Hood shooting defendant represent himself
May 29, 2013
Andrew Connelly and Helene Bienvenu: The Little Synagogue that Refused to Die
May 24, 2013
Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb: When I didn't so 'humbly disagree'
May 22, 2013
John Thorne:
They launched the 'Arab Spring' but now yearn for the good old days of a strongman
May 20, 2013
Richard A. Serrano: Is Meir Kahane's assassin now a changed man?
Melissa Healy: Genetic copies of living people from embryos no longer science fiction
Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Jews Inducted into Rock Hall of Fame; Anton Yelchin co-stars in New "Trek" film; Kutcher (but not Kunis) visits Israel; Jewish TV Star Praises Jewish Rap Star
The Kosher Gourmet by Cathy Pollak: WARNING: This WALNUT CAKE WITH PRALINE FROSTING, perfect for afternoon coffee, is addicting
|
| |
Jewish World Review
Dec. 5, 2005
/ 4 Kislev, 5766
Abortion's paradoxical politics
By
Jeff Jacoby
| 
|
|
|
|
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
The abortion case taken up by the Supreme Court last week didn't involve a challenge to Roe v. Wade, and there is no
chance the court will use it to topple that 1973 landmark. Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood dealt only with the terms of a narrow
abortion regulation a New Hampshire law requiring that a parent be notified before an abortion is performed on a minor.
Nonetheless, the air was heavy with the usual absolutism. On the day of the oral argument, protesters outside the Supreme
Court building carried signs reading "Keep Abortion Legal" and "Stop Abortion Now" the slogans, respectively, of those
who want no retrenchment from the virtually unlimited right to abortion that Roe created, and of those who want virtually all
abortions banned.
But those aren't the only two choices, and they aren't the choices most Americans would make. As poll after poll makes
clear, the public is ambivalent on this subject. Most people believe that abortion is a great evil, but most also believe that
abortion decisions should be left to a woman and her doctor. At the same time, a large majority also supports regulating
abortion in specific ways by mandating waiting periods or preabortion counseling, for example, or by requiring parental
notice or consent for a minor's abortion.
No rational abortion policy can encompass all those stands. But then, Americans are out of practice at setting abortion
policy. They haven't been allowed to do so for more than 30 years, ever since Roe struck down the laws of 50 states, took the
issue away from voters and lawmakers, and carved a practically unlimited "right to choose" into constitutional granite.
Far from settling the matter once and for all, Roe turned abortion into perhaps the most unsettled subject in American
politics. It certainly polarized the two parties. Republicans became officially and explicitly antiabortion, writing language into
their national platform that proclaims the inviolable right to life of the unborn and endorsing a constitutional amendment that
would ban nearly all abortions. Democrats became adamant defenders of abortion on demand, with their platform taking a
hard line against any restrictions at all: "We stand proudly for a woman's right to choose . . . regardless of her ability to pay."
Neither position would seem to make much sense politically, since neither reflects the views of the ambivalent American
mainstream. But by yanking abortion from the democratic process, Roe freed each party to cater to its extremes. Most of us
now take this political distortion for granted: The Democrats insist that Roe is sacred and mustn't be tampered with, while the
GOP blasts it as rampant judicial activism, ripe for overturning.
But do the Democrats really do themselves any favors when they defend Roe so ardently?
Look again at the hardline positions each party is formally committed to. Republicans supposedly favor a near-total ban on
abortion something most voters would never support. As long as Roe remains in force, the GOP's stand is cost-free.
Republicans can talk all they like about stopping abortion, safe in the knowledge that they will never have to vote for legislation
actually banning it. All they can do about abortion now is try to restrict it at the margins by halting partial-birth abortions, for
example, or requiring parental notice. In other words, by promoting the kind of reasonable regulations that most voters do
support.
Not so for the Democrats. Their extreme stance unrestricted abortion on demand, basically does indeed extract a
political price, since it forces them to oppose those same popular regulations. The public overwhelmingly favors a ban on
partial-birth abortions, but Democratic lawmakers, in their post-Roe intransigence, vote against it. Americans support parental
notice; Democrats oppose it. Over the years, the result has been a prolife migration to the Republican Party, which is far
stronger today than it was before Roe was decided. "The biggest paradox," commented The Wall Street Journal recently, is
"that Roe has been a disaster for the Democratic Party that has made its defense a core principle." (The Journal's James
Taranto has detailed this disaster in an article titled "The Roe effect.")
By the same token, an overruling of Roe would be a boon to the Democrats. Abortion would return to the state legislatures,
where Democrats, free at last of the Roe albatross, would no longer be compelled to stake out the most extreme prochoice
positions. Instead it is Republicans who would be squirming, prodded by their prolife base to make abortion illegal, but
knowing that any such attempt would be politically catastrophic.
Of course the case for or against Roe and for or against abortion is not, fundamentally, about politics. But to the extent
that the Democrats' passion for Roe v.Wade is political, they might want to rethink their premises.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
Jeff Jacoby is a Boston Globe columnist. Comment by clicking here.
Jeff Jacoby Archives
© 2005, Boston Globe
|
|

Arnold Ahlert
Mitch Albom
Jay Ambrose
Michael Barone
Barrywood
Lori Borgman
Stratfor Briefing
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Richard Z. Chesnoff
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Suzanne Fields
Christine Flowers
Peter Funt
Frank J. Gaffney
Bernie Goldberg
Jonah Goldberg
Julia Gorin
Jonathan Gurwitz
Paul Greenberg
Argus Hamilton
Victor Davis Hanson
Betsy Hart
Ron Hart
Nat Hentoff
A. Barton Hinkle
Jeff Jacoby
Paul Johnson
John Kass
Jack Kelly
Ch. Krauthammer
David Limbaugh
Kathryn Lopez
Rich Lowry
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Ann McFeatters
Dale McFeatters
Dana Milbank
Jeanne Moos
Dick Morris
Jim Mullen
Deroy Murdock
Judge A. Napolitano
Bill O'Reilly
Clarence Page
Kathleen Parker
Star Parker
Dennis Prager
Wesley Pruden
Tom Purcell
Sharon Randall
Michael Reagan
Robert Robb
Cokie & Steve Roberts
Heather Robinson
Debra J. Saunders
Martin Schram
Greg Schwem
Culture Shlock
David Shribman
Roger Simon
Lenore Skenazy
Michael Smerconish
Thomas Sowell
Mark Steyn
John Stossel
Cal Thomas
Dan Thomasson
Bob Tyrrell
Diana West
Dave Weinbaum
George Will
Walter Williams
Byron York
Cathy Young
Mort Zuckerman

Eric Allie
Robert Arial
Chuck Asay
Baloo
Nate Beeler
Lisa Benson
Chip Bok
Dry Bones
John Branch
Daryl Cagle
Patrick Chappatte
John Cole
Paul Combs
J. D. Crowe
John Darkow
Bill Day
John Deering
Sean Delonas
Brian Duffy
Everything's Relative
Randall Enos
Mallard Fillmore
David Fitzsimmons
Glenn Foden
Jake Fuller
Bob Gorrel
Walt Handelsman
Joe Heller
David Hitch
Jerry Holbert
David Horsey
Lee Judge
Steve Kelley
Mike Keefe
Jeff Koterba
Dick Locher
Chan Lowe
Jimmy Margulies
Gary McCoy
Rick McKee
Jack Ohman
Jeff Parker
Milt Priggee
Michael Ramirez
Rob Rogers
Steve Sack
Bill Schorr
Drew Sheneman
Kevin Siers
David Ray Skinner
Jeff Stahler
Scott Stantis
Danna Summers
Gary Varvel
Kirk Walters
Christopher Weyant
Larry Wright
Dan Wasserman
Adam Zyglis

Tech Q&A
Mr. Know-It-All
Ask Doctor K
Richard Lederer
Frugal Living
On Nutrition
Bookmark These
Bruce Williams
|