
 |
|
May 20, 2013
Melissa Healy: Genetic copies of living people from embryos no longer science fiction
Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Jews Inducted into Rock Hall of Fame; Anton Yelchin co-stars in New "Trek" film; Kutcher (but not Kunis) visits Israel; Jewish TV Star Praises Jewish Rap Star
The Kosher Gourmet by Cathy Pollak: WARNING: This WALNUT CAKE WITH PRALINE FROSTING, perfect for afternoon coffee, is addicting
May 13, 2013
Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Why the giving of the document that would permanently change the world could only be done in desolation
David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church
May 10, 2013
Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be
May 8, 2013
Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas
Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate
Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility
May 6, 2013
May 3, 2013
Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine
April 29, 2013
Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust
Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?
Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA
April 26, 2013
Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty
April 24, 2013
|
| |
Jewish World Review
August 6, 2007
/ 22 Menachem-Av, 5767
Overturning Roe v. Wade ends the victimization
By
Kathryn Lopez
| 
|
|
|
|
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Celebrated Newsweek columnist Anna Quindlen recently mentioned a YouTube video about a question that falls into a common abortion trap. The filmmaker behind "Libertyville Abortion Demonstration" asks pro-lifers how much jail time women who seek abortions should receive if Roe v. Wade were to be overturned.
What people who ask this question fail to understand is what most abortion opponents actually want to stop the additional victimization of women. They already are victimized by abortion. Women are often pressured into it by desperate circumstances and suffer in silence for years after their decision.
The question feeds into the misconception that the United States will descend into a state of vigilante abortions. This fantasy is complete with headlines trumpeting a new world of oppression as American women are carted off to jail in their most despondent hours.
In reality, the Supreme Court, if it overturned the landmark decision, would put the abortion decision in the hands of the people, where it should have been all along. Federalism will reign, as each state will decide for itself what to do. (The 1973 Supreme Court decision ruled that state bans on first- and second-trimester abortions were unconstitutional.)
If Roe v. Wade is overturned, there will be a barrage of questions, hashed out state by state: Exactly what type of abortion will be legal? Should there be an outright ban? Could women be hit with severe sentences for trying to get an abortion?
In pre-Roe New York State, as it happens, women who had abortions were considered, according to the letter of the law, criminals. (This was not the case in every state.) But in practice in the interest of shutting down doctors who perform abortions women would customarily get immunity from criminal prosecution if they testified against the abortionists. It was practical and it was compassionate.
History suggests that when tough anti-abortion laws exist, desperate women aren't rushed to the slammer. If you don't trust whack-job pro-lifers like me, look at the historical record. Abortion was illegal in the United States prior to the Supreme Court's 1973 ruling, and women weren't being rushed to jail in droves for seeking abortions. Women weren't prosecuted because the law generally wasn't after them to begin with.
According to "Dispelling the Myths of Abortion History" (Carolina Academic Press, 2006) by Joseph W. Dellapenna, and according to other historians, law enforcement took aim at the "do no harm" community the doctors who performed abortions. And even then, "enforcement in the United States focused on the revocation of medical licenses" in the 1930s, with an uptick in prosecutions in the 1940s and 1950s.
As public opinion turns toward restrictions on abortion, abortion supporters hope they can scare Americans into opposing us crazy pro-lifers. The truth is, though, we're not all ideologues marching with pictures of babies killed in the land of Roe v. Wade. We know women who have had abortions. Some pro-lifers have had them. We know what happens to a woman, to a couple and to the child. What we don't want is further victimization.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
Comment by clicking here.
Archives
© 2007, Newspaper Enterprise Assn.
|
|

Arnold Ahlert
Mitch Albom
Jay Ambrose
Michael Barone
Barrywood
Lori Borgman
Stratfor Briefing
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Richard Z. Chesnoff
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Suzanne Fields
Christine Flowers
Frank J. Gaffney
Bernie Goldberg
Jonah Goldberg
Julia Gorin
Jonathan Gurwitz
Paul Greenberg
Argus Hamilton
Victor Davis Hanson
Betsy Hart
Ron Hart
Nat Hentoff
A. Barton Hinkle
Jeff Jacoby
Paul Johnson
Jack Kelly
Ch. Krauthammer
David Limbaugh
Kathryn Lopez
Rich Lowry
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Ann McFeatters
Dale McFeatters
Dana Milbank
Jeanne Moos
Dick Morris
Jim Mullen
Deroy Murdock
Judge A. Napolitano
Bill O'Reilly
Clarence Page
Kathleen Parker
Star Parker
Dennis Prager
Wesley Pruden
Tom Purcell
Sharon Randall
Robert Robb
Cokie & Steve Roberts
Heather Robinson
Debra J. Saunders
Martin Schram
Greg Schwem
Culture Shlock
David Shribman
Roger Simon
Lenore Skenazy
Michael Smerconish
Thomas Sowell
Ben Stein
Mark Steyn
John Stossel
Cal Thomas
Dan Thomasson
Bob Tyrrell
Diana West
Dave Weinbaum
George Will
Walter Williams
Byron York
ZeitGeist
Mort Zuckerman

Robert Arial
Chuck Asay
Baloo
Lisa Benson
Chip Bok
Dry Bones
John Branch
John Cole
J. D. Crowe
Matt Davies
John Deering
Brian Duffy
Everything's Relative
Mallard Fillmore
Glenn Foden
Jake Fuller
Bob Gorrel
Walt Handelsman
Joe Heller
David Hitch
Jerry Holbert
David Horsey
Lee Judge
Steve Kelley
Jeff Koterba
Dick Locher
Chan Lowe
Jimmy Margulies
Jack Ohman
Michael Ramirez
Rob Rogers
Drew Sheneman
Kevin Siers
Jeff Stahler
Scott Stantis
Danna Summers
Gary Varvel
Kirk Walters
Dan Wasserman

Tech Q&A
Mr. Know-It-All
Ask Doctor K
Richard Lederer
Frugal Living
On Nutrition
Bookmark These
Bruce Williams
|