Word: roe
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Those days are over. Pro-life groups, energized by the hope of overturning Roe, and pro-choice forces, galvanized by fear of that prospect, vow to turn every election in every state into a referendum on the issue. Both sides claim the moral high ground, but the battle surely will be fought at a lower -- much lower -- level. One side accuses the other of baby killing, showing pictures of fetuses contorted in pain as surgical instruments poke at them; the other warns of the enslavement of women by states if they force those who become pregnant to remain that...
Even the Justices found it impossible to discuss abortion with their usual comity. Justice Harry A. Blackmun, author of the Roe opinion, attacked the majority in Webster for cowardice, deception, disingenuousness and brute force. The ruling, he bristled, invites the states to pass restrictive laws % and "is filled with winks, and nods, and knowing glances to those who would do away with Roe explicitly." No less angry, Justice Scalia wrote that Justice O'Connor's reasons for refusing to reconsider Roe "cannot be taken seriously...
Rhetoric aside, the decision in Webster revealed that there are now four Justices who want to keep the right to abortion intact, four who would like to overturn Roe and give the states wider discretion to restrict abortion, and one -- Justice O'Connor -- who cannot be placed with certainty in either camp. In past abortion cases, O'Connor has said she would allow state restrictions as long as they are not "unduly burdensome." But, abortion-rights advocates say, she has yet to meet a burden she considers to be undue. Among those that have passed O'Connor's standard: requiring...
...cases involve parental notification; the third, from Illinois, requires that facilities where abortions are performed must meet stringent hospital-level licensing standards, a step so costly that it could force many clinics to shut down. Any of the cases could give the Justices an opportunity to attack Roe directly...
...core of pro-life sentiment is slightly outnumbered by the 32% who say they would never vote for an office-seeker who advocates restricting a woman's right to obtain an abortion. The poll also found that 57% do not believe that the court should overturn its ruling in Roe, while 61% disagree with the decision in the Webster case. Only 31% favor new state laws restricting access to abortion, while 57% oppose such limitations...