Today is the 41st
anniversary of the Roe v Wade
decision overturning the abortion statutes of the vast majority of the states
(48 if my memory is correct). Tens
of thousands, including several bishops of the Anglican Church in North America,
will walk in the snow today in Washington in protest in the 40th
March for Life.
I myself participated in at
least two Marches for Life back in the early 80’s. One of them was in the snow as well.
The damage Roe v Wade inflicted extends far beyond
life issues. It made a mockery of
the Constitution, of democracy, and of Constitutional federalism by asserting
that the Constitution somehow demanded striking down the abortion statutes of
most states and replacing them with a regime of abortion-on-demand virtually
all the way to birth.
Roe v Wade
was a coup against Constitutional democracy and against the states by men
acting as dictators in black robes.
Justice Byron White’s dissent calling it “an exercise of raw judicial
power” put it nicely. He also
stated:
I find nothing in the language or history of the
Constitution to support the Court's judgment.
That is because there was
nothing.
What is saddest of all is
that the Supreme Court got away with it.
Yes, there has been strong movement ever since to undo Roe v Wade in various fashions, from
Constitutional Amendments to a Human Life Statute to working for good Supreme
Court appointments and more.
But what should have
happened was defiance. The Supreme
Court may interpret the Constitution.
But it cannot obliterate it then rewrite it in its own image; or at least it should not be able so to do. This was an absurd and outrageous
ruling, really a coup against the Constitution, and should have immediately
been given the respect it deserved – none.
The states, even states
moving toward liberalizing abortion laws, should have told the Supreme Court
what they could do with its ruling, with its brazen attack on their rights to
defend life, and then defied the ruling and carried on with their own laws as
best they could. This awful ruling
was an opportunity to rally the people and the states to put the Supreme Court
and the Feds in their place and to revive Constitutional governance. And if the new President, Richard Nixon,
had any principles, he should have encouraged and supported such efforts by
publicly and clearly refusing to allow the Executive Branch to enforce the
ruling.
But did any state so
attempt to defend the Constitution and the lives of the unborn? Any state?
The answer is what I find
saddest of all about January 22nd.
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