judicial tyranny

Nathan Newman nathan at newman.org
Wed May 16 11:24:20 PDT 2001


----- Original Message ----- From: "Charles Brown" <CharlesB at CNCL.ci.detroit.mi.us>
>I am sure Nathan is aware that his argument below depends critically on an
historical counterfactual - if Roe >v Wade had held there is no constit. right to an abortion - , so it is very speculative to conclude that the ERA
>would have passed had Roe v Wade not been decided in favor of a right to an
abortion. So, for example the >following proposition is not demonstrated:
>CB: On the other hand, we might have no right to an abortion and no ERA
both. That is just as plausible >and outcome. Aggravating the contradictions doesn't necessarily work.

There was a right to abortion BEFORE Roe v. Wade in an increasing number of states established by state legislatures. People in states without abortion might have to travel to a different state to get an abortion but it was available by 1973. That travel need raised the cost, but then the Supreme Court after Roe declared that poor women had no right to equal treatment under insurance programs or Medicaid to exercise their supposed right to abortion, so heavy costs were imposed on the right to abortion in any case.

The point is that Roe was no lightswitch of abortion liberty. Many states have far stronger protections than Roe through funding abortions and other access rules and others have sought to chip away at those rights through raising the costs in all sorts of ways, while Operation Rescue and other groups have driven abortion clincs out of many communities. In Texas, abortion is available in only 19 out of 254 counties, so travel is still an issue for many women. Roe made a quantitative change at best in the cost of abortions but did not really change the fundamental issue, since the abortion rights had already been won legislatively in enough states to make choice a reality.

And I am not engaging in speculation when I note that many pro-choice women, who in fact think abortion rights are important, vote Republican because they know the courts protect their rights. It is not speculation to note that without Roe, those women might be forced to form real alliances with poor women to support abortion rights in a way that serves not just elite women.

-- Nathan Newman



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list