Perhaps this Supreme Court decision will soon be mentioned in a civics/social studies course. There are media reports that current cases with the Supremes may impact the 1973 case of Roe v. Wade. Hard to predict but the possibility raises both sides of the abortion issue to near fever pitch. Over the last 48 years I’ve wondered if both sides are happy that the issue continues to bubble and boil without finality because it generates intense fundraising support.
In my mind, prior to Roe, I connected abortion with teen pregnancy. Not an unnatural link because there was no reliable birth control during my teen years. (BTW: See book “What Made Me?” Solid info from a birth control/sexuality pioneer.) In the 1950’s/60’s I had a considerable aversion to becoming a teen daddy when mastering shaving and driving a car were my two best recent landmarks of life. Plus, in my town, a murder was committed by a teen to avoid the fear/shame of an unwanted pregnancy. Movies at the time such as Peyton Place and Love With Proper Stranger dealt with the subject of abortion. Sex and its potential consequences sold theater tickets and were on the minds of teens. I was still in a hand holding pattern when I took a date to the movie Summer Place. I hoped the show did not offend her but mostly the teen protagonists demonstrated how slow I was developing. As it turned out going slow is okay.
I remember reading the Roe decision when it came out. Unlike most issues of law, that decision did not seem solidly constructed on the usual legal building blocks. My older brother lawyer once told me to follow common sense when figuring out case law or statutes. (It’s all common sense he’d say; except for TAX LAW!) To me Roe read like a washing machine, all jumbled together. Then an abrupt declaratory statement of the law. A final and binding privacy right. Except, three distinct time periods were also addressed. So, the right that many legal scholars felt was created out of whole cloth wasn’t actually final. Needless to say the breakdown of the 39 weeks of a pregnancy is not medically the same today as in 1973. I believe I recently read in the news that a baby under one pound survived. Papa is no legal scholar but I’ve wondered where the issue of viability will lead.
So, abortion right up to the moment of birth vs none after conception are teed up as competing extremes. Many in 1973 felt it would have been best to resolve the issue politically at the state level rather than with a judicial decision. Roe did not seem to be a clear cut outcome to me. Not so easy to do with such knotty issues. It will be interesting to see how the Supreme Court handles this fiercely contested but evolving issue. I suspect the court will not go towards either extreme. A decision will probably come out next May/June near the end of this year’s term. That is often the case with major cases. Whatever the judgment, I predict that many on both sides will continue to be vocally unhappy with the decision. November 2021