By DONALD DeMARCO
The draft of a Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade has been leaked to the press. This unprecedented disclosure of a future Supreme Court decision, however, is more like a dam burst than a leak. “We hold,” writes Justice Samuel Alito, in Jeffersonian prose, “that Roe v. Wade must be overturned.”
In his 67-page statement, he goes on to state: “The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision, including the one on which the defenders of Roe and Casey now chiefly rely.”
If this apparent decision is confirmed this summer, what will be the consequences, we may ask? We can safely predict hysteria on the one hand, and rejoicing on the other. While no one has a crystal ball, we can reasonably anticipate what will likely happen. The word “likely” must be underscored, although reason can be a useful and reliable instrument. Four areas in particular may very well bring about positive results, despite the concerted efforts on the part of pro-abortionists to change the court’s ruling while complaining vociferously that their “rights” have been taken away.
Education: Once the hysteria dies down, it may become clear to more people that the function of the Supreme Court is to interpret the Constitution and not to pander to specific interest groups. If a judicious reading of that document reveals that it contains no provision whatsoever for granting a woman a right to kill her unborn child, then Roe v. Wade must be overturned. It is far better to overturn Roe v. Wade than to turn the Court over to protest groups. The Constitution is the political backbone of society. It gives society is enduring support and cohesiveness. Without such a backbone the country would fall into chaos, just as the human body, without its backbone, would fall apart.
Politics: The United States of America is a nation of citizens. These citizens, being a living part of their country, are not solo entities who are free to do anything they choose. They have rights, but they also have duties. The overturning of Rose v. Wade will not end abortion, but it most probably will reduce its number. This should be a boon for women and spare them the many adverse effects, both psychologically and physically, that abortion brings about. Being a citizen of the United State confers many benefits and blessings. To be a citizen means honoring the laws of the land and respecting America’s roots expressed in the Declaration of Independence, the Gettysburg Address, and other documents that honor the rights and dignity of all.
Sexuality: Abortion will lose status. One can no longer claim that abortion is a constitutionally protected right. This will lead many to understand that abortion and sexual activity are not to be regarded haphazardly as mere choices. Abortion can no longer be regarded as doing something “the American way.” Some will begin to realize that sexuality has an intimate relationship with marriage and the family. Perhaps, with a better understanding of the negative implications of abortion, men will be more respectful of woman and women will be more respectful of men. The unborn, indeed, are part of the human family.
Justice: It is a strange miscarriage of justice that the explicit statement in the Declaration of Independence that “all men are created equal” can give way to the nonsensical notion, as Justice Blackmun stated in Roe v. Wade, that the right to abortion is “implied in the penumbra” of the Constitution. His colleague on the bench, Byron White, was right when he characterized the Roe decision as “an exercise in raw judicial power.” He also criticized the court majority for “interposing a constitutional barrier to state efforts to protect human life.” Overturning Roe does take away from women the constitutional right to abortion. It means that such a right was never there in the first place.
The regulation of abortion belongs not to the Supreme Court, but to the states. The late Justice Antonin Scalia remarked: “The permissibility of abortion and the limitations upon it are to be resolved like most important questions in our democracy: by citizens trying to persuade one another and then voting.” According to Justice Alito, “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.”
It should appeal to common sense that there would be no provision in any country’s Constitution for one person to take the life of an innocent person. Justice is not justice if it is not justice for all, including those human beings who are in the womb and tending toward birth. In reading the Preamble to America’s Constitution, one is impressed by its dedication to unity and peace, and certainly not to division and violence:
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
If Roe v. Wade is overturned, the American people will benefit, though these benefits will be denied by many who persist in opposing the very essence of their country as established by its Founding Fathers and concretized in its Constitution. Nevertheless, the recognition that the Constitution does not justify abortion is absolutely required if America is to fulfill its destiny as “one nation under God.”
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