{"id":80465,"date":"2015-11-21T17:09:25","date_gmt":"2015-11-21T22:09:25","guid":{"rendered":"\/news\/?p=80465"},"modified":"2015-11-21T21:47:17","modified_gmt":"2015-11-22T02:47:17","slug":"why-judicial-appointments-matter-to-pro-lifers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/why-judicial-appointments-matter-to-pro-lifers\/","title":{"rendered":"Why judicial appointments matter to pro-lifers"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

When you\u2019re a pro-life activist, you hear\u00a0a lot\u00a0of reasons\u00a0why abortion should remain legal. Among the more popular? That \u201cthe right to choose\u201d is constitutionally\u00a0guaranteed. It\u2019s often said with a tone of certainty, as if further objection has just been rendered moot.<\/p>\n

The tone usually changes when you ask where exactly the Constitution specifies this. Replies tend to be a little vague, which isn\u2019t surprising. After all, even the guys who came up with the idea couldn’t give a straight answer.<\/p>\n

In Roe v. Wade<\/a>, the Supreme Court found a right to abortion. Where did they find it? Within the\u00a0larger \u201cright of privacy.\u201d OK… so where\u2019s that<\/i> right laid out? Well, it isn’t. \u201cThe Constitution,\u201d Justice Blackmun admitted, \u201cdoes not explicitly mention any right of privacy.\u201d You might think this would pose something of an obstacle; that\u2019s probably why you\u2019re not on the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

In contrast, Blackmun and company\u00a0regarded the Constitution\u00a0somewhat like The Da Vinci Code<\/i>,\u00a0assembling mysterious pieces of a hitherto unseen puzzle:<\/p>\n

\n

In a line of decisions, however, going back perhaps as far as Union Pacific R. Co. v. Botsford, 141 U.S. 250, 251<\/a> (1891), the Court has recognized that a right of personal privacy, or a guarantee of certain areas or zones of privacy, does exist under the Constitution.<\/p>\n

In varying contexts, the Court or individual Justices have, indeed, found at least the roots of that right in the First Amendment, Stanley v. Georgia, 394 U.S. 557, 564<\/a> (1969); in the Fourth and Fifth Amendments, Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 8<\/a> -9 (1968), Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 350<\/a> (1967), Boyd v. United States, 116 U.S. 616<\/a> (1886), see Olmstead v. United States, 277 U.S. 438, 478<\/a> (1928) (Brandeis, J., dissenting); in the penumbras of the Bill of Rights, Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S., at 484<\/a> -485; in the Ninth Amendment, id., at 486 (Goldberg, J., concurring); or in the concept of liberty guaranteed by the first section of the Fourteenth Amendment, see Meyer v. Nebraska, 262 U.S. 390, 399<\/a> (1923). These decisions make it clear that only personal rights that can be deemed “fundamental” or “implicit in the concept of ordered liberty,” Palko v. Connecticut, 302 U.S. 319, 325<\/a> (1937), are included in this guarantee of personal privacy.<\/p>\n

They also make it clear that the right has some extension to activities relating to marriage, Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1, 12<\/a> (1967); procreation, Skinner v. Oklahoma, 316 U.S. 535, 541<\/a> -542 (1942); contraception, Eisenstadt v. Baird, 405 U.S., at 453<\/a> -454; id., at 460, 463-465 [410 U.S. 113, 153] \u00a0\u00a0(WHITE, J., concurring in result); family relationships, Prince v. Massachusetts, 321 U.S. 158, 166<\/a> (1944); and child rearing and education, Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U.S. 510, 535<\/a> (1925), Meyer v. Nebraska, supra.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

How did any of\u00a0this create a right to kill children? Simple: Blackmun and six other justices said it did.<\/p>\n

\n

This right of privacy, whether it be founded in the Fourteenth Amendment’s concept of personal liberty and restrictions upon state action, as we feel it is, or, as the District Court determined, in the Ninth Amendment’s reservation of rights to the people, is broad enough to encompass a woman’s decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Also discussed was \u201cthe detriment\u201d that an \u201cunwanted child\u201d can bring. (The detriment that comes with being aborted didn\u2019t get as much attention.)<\/p>\n

\"dismemberment\"<\/p>\n

Neither did the possibility that sexual predators\u00a0would use abortion to\u00a0cover up their crimes<\/a>. Here’s a list of more than fifty<\/a> who did\u00a0exactly that.<\/p>\n

Nor\u00a0was it considered\u00a0that in many cases, the choice to get an abortion\u00a0would be made by someone other than the woman having it.\u00a0Some\u00a0studies suggest more than half<\/a> of women who abort feel pressure to do so. This\u00a0can come in the form of financial coercion<\/a>\u00a0or personal blackmail<\/a>, while other times threats of violence are used. Ignoring those threats can be deadly, as women have been shot<\/a>, stabbed<\/a>, bludgeoned<\/a>, burned<\/a> and smothered<\/a> for refusing to visit an abortion facility.<\/p>\n

Pro-lifers\u00a0need to\u00a0remind the presidential contenders that\u00a0Supreme Court appointments\u00a0are a major deal for us. Granted, it’s easier to pick suitable nominees when there\u00a0are\u00a0plenty of candidates to choose from. That\u2019s why we\u00a0have to encourage pro-life judges at the state level as well.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, we can continue to pursue the avenues open to us,\u00a0like\u00a0demanding<\/a> that federal funds be sent to\u00a0community health centers<\/a>\u00a0instead of Planned Parenthood, America\u2019s largest abortion chain<\/a>. Of course, it would be nice if we could do more; hopefully we’ll get a Supreme Court that will let us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When you\u2019re a pro-life activist, you hear\u00a0a lot\u00a0of reasons\u00a0why abortion should remain legal. Among the more popular? That \u201cthe right to choose\u201d is constitutionally\u00a0guaranteed. It\u2019s often said with a tone of certainty, as if further objection has just been rendered moot. The tone usually changes when you ask where exactly the Constitution specifies this. Replies […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":69353,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[4146,6293,144],"yoast_head":"\nWhy judicial appointments matter to pro-lifers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Justice Blackmun admitted the Constitution\u00a0\u201cdoes not explicitly mention any right of privacy.\u201d So where did the 'right' to abortion come from?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/why-judicial-appointments-matter-to-pro-lifers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why judicial appointments matter to pro-lifers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" 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