Roe V Wade at 40

40 years ago today, the phrase Roe v Wade became etched in the nation's conscience.  It remains, in my mind, the singular source of the polarization of the political landscape in this country for one simple reason:  The Supreme Court found a right in the constitution that simply was not there.

That singular ruling set off decades of debate about "original intent" of the founding fathers vs the notion of a "living constitution" that evolved with the times.   At stake was the simple question of whether law itself had meaning apart from the momentary whim of a judge, whether the written law could ever again be appealed to as a norm.

The Constitution did not mention abortion.  "Personhood" - that one was thought to have been settled in the debate over slavery, that the law could not declare a human being a non-person or partial person by the stroke of a legal pen. 

The crux of the Roe decision was the "right to privacy" which the court simply left undefined - privacy to do what?  Privacy with what limits?   Can any and every action be considered off limits to law if committed in private?



The result of Roe in the legal and political sphere was a sharp divide between the "strict constructionists" and the "living document" sides.  The left, especially the radical left, embraced the "living document" position with a vengeance and battles over court appointees and the political offices who could make those appointments turned into open warfare.  Supreme Court nominees became the targets of absurd personal attacks and open slander.

And lost in all the legal wrangling - 55 million hearbeats stopped.  Late term abortions defended by politicians, live birth and partial birth abortions defended by politicians and the media - why?

Not merely because human nature wants sex with no strings.

But because law that is malleable, law that can be twisted and manipulated, is an essential tool in the politics of the left.  Roe represents a view of the Constitution that makes the principles of the Constitution a wax nose that can be easily bent if the right appointees serve on strategic benches in circuit courts, state Supreme Courts and especially the Supreme Court of the United States.

Mourn not only the loss of 55 million lives.  Mourn the poisoning of a Constitutional Republic perhaps now on it's death bed.