2nd December 2021
The abortion issue is about one ultimate question: who gets to choose?
Is it those who are pregnant?
Or is it those who have control of a legislature or the courtrooms?
From a liberal perspective, the answer is simple.
As far as possible, those who are pregnant should have the choice to decide to terminate or not terminate their pregnancies.
This is because of the principle of autonomy.
But many do not want women to have that choice: they believe it is a choice for others to make, who do not know the woman or her circumstances.
Answering this ultimate question, however, is not enough.
For there is a further question: how should the right of someone to control their own pregnancy be enforced?
In the United States, the Supreme Court in Roe v Wade held that there was a ‘constitutional right’ to an abortion.
The problem with this is that the constitution of the United States does not expressly provide such a right.
It instead has to be read into the constitution by the courts.
And what a court can give, another court can take away.
Another problem is that the reasoning in Roe v Wade is not that compelling – even it arrives at the (morally) right conclusion.
So there is now a case before the Supreme Court where there is a very real chance that Roe v Wade will be severely limited, if not overturned.
This would be an illiberal and unfortunate outcome.
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For nearly fifty years, however, the effect of Roe v Wade has not been converted into an actual constitutional amendment, so as to put the ‘constitutional right’ beyond doubt.
And those opposed to abortion have, step by step, judicial appointment by judicial appointment, increasingly positioned themselves to overturn the decision.
It has been skilfully, deftly done – and in plain sight.
The judicial appointments under presidency of Donald Trump has made the shift irreversible for at least generation.
The only liberal way forward is not to litigate, but to legislate.
The ‘constitutional right’ of a woman to, as far as possible, decide the outcome of her own pregnancy is too important to rest on a flimsy Supreme Court decision, with poor reasoning and relying on a right not expressly set out in the constitution.
And if and when the constitution expressly sets out the right, then the decision as to who gets to decide whether to terminate a pregnancy will be, as afar as possible, back with who it should be.
The mother herself.
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