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February 10, 2012
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David G. Savage: Why activists may not be in a hurry to have High Court rule on alternative marriage
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The Kosher Gourmet byDana Velden: Going to the bother of making soup? You know it better be good. This CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP certainly is! And it's a cinch to make, too (Includes techinques and serving secrets)
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Julie Deardorff : Researchers say antioxidants may not be that effective and could do more harm than good
Mark Clayton: How did Anonymous hackers eavesdrop on FBI and Scotland Yard?
February 3, 2012
Edmund Sanders : Israeli official says Iran is creating missile that could reach East Coast of US
Victoria Kim: Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling
February 2, 2012
Jim Carney: Wrong number call may have saved her life
Reza Kahlili : Ex-CIA spy in Iran's Revolutionary Guard: What Obama doesn't grasp about striking deals with Tehran
Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
February 1, 2012
Brian Bennett: US officials see increasing threat of domestic attack from Iran
Emily Brandon: How to Take Advantage of New 401(k) Fee Disclosures
January 31, 2012
January 30, 2012
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Suzanne Bohan: Warning: Nap-deprived tots missing more than sleep, study finds
Meg Handley: Banks Revamping Rewards Programs to Woo Customers
January 27, 2012
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Yochonon Donn: In liberal New York City, fervently-Orthodox Jews may soon be getting a district to call their own
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Katy Hopkins: New budget rules may affect how much money you get for college
January 26, 2012
Ed Koch: To the New York Times, calling for the murder of Jews by those capable of having their incitement taken seriously isn't news
Jeannine Stein: Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report
January 25, 2012
Richard Simon: House passes two bills endorsing the use of religious symbols at military memorials
Fred Weir: Putin: Multiethnic Russia cannot survive as a US-style 'melting pot'; must find its own way
Susan Johnston: 5 Sneaky Coupon Strategies Consumers Should Watch Out For
January 24, 2012
Carol Clark: The price of your soul: How your brain decides whether to 'sell out'
Caroline B. Glick: America lost most in 'Arab Spring'. Sadly, many voters still don't grasp the extent
Warren Richey: Drug criminal scores win in GPS ruling from conservative-leaning high court
Erika Bolstad: Black conservatives gather to talk about gaining strength
January 23, 2012
Melissa Dribben: Jewish voters to play a key role in Florida's Republican primary
Jordan Rau: In quest to grow, Catholic hospital system will announce this morning its break from church
Ali Safi: U.S. envoy gives Taliban terms for peace talks
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January 18, 2012
January 17, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney Jr.: No-kidding red lines: U.S. response to an Iranian nuke may be bluster, but Israel's won't be
David G. Savage: They sued their principals after slandering them online --- now the cases are headed to the Supreme Court
David Francis: Where to Invest in 2012: With stocks expected to rebound, opportunity abounds for investors
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Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz: Thriving through touch: Gentle massage helps older people with low mobility improve in mind and body
January 12, 2012
Warren Richey: Landmark Supreme Court ruling a 'resounding win' for religious groups
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John Fauber : Statins found to raise diabetes risk in postmenopausal women
Katy Hopkins : Consider This Before You Pay for an Online Degree
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Shari Roan: Millions of atrial fibrillation sufferers at risk for devastating, but preventable, stroke
Tom Hussain: Pakistan -- recipient of more than $21 billion in civilian and military aid -- speeds pursuit of Iranian pipeline, defying US
David G. Savage: High court signals it won't be loosening TV's 'indecency' rules
Stephen Ceasar: Oklahoma's Islamic law amendment can't go into effect, court rules
January 10, 2012
Reza Kahlili: From an ex-CIA spy: US must exploit new split in Iran's Revolutionary Guard
Karen Kaplan: Study: Nicotine replacement products ineffective when used in real-life situations
January 9, 2012
Michael Doyle: Put through legal hell over dream home, couple fought back hard --- all the way to Supreme Court
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Jewish World Review
Dec. 5, 2005
/ 4 Kislev, 5766
Abortion's paradoxical politics
By
Jeff Jacoby
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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
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