JERUSALEM — The Supreme Court has rejected Roe v. Wade.
Roe v. Wade occurred in 1973, and has served as the law of the land for almost 50 years.
It was based on the 14th Amendment:
“All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
This had been enacted as part of the anti-slavery cluster, required to be approved by states of the Confederacy as part of their reintroduction to the Union.
And the 9th Amendment:
“The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”
According to the Court, neither of them mentions abortion.
The argument includes a conflict between the rights of the women and those of the fetus. Overturning of Roe v. Wade was due largely to three Justices nominated by former President Donald Trump. The Court voted 6 to 3.
About half the U.S. states have significant restrictions against abortion, with many of them enacted to go into effect if and when Roe v. Wade was overturned.
Recall that the name of the country is the United States — States existed prior to the creation of the Union. There was something like a century and a half between the beginning of what became the states of Virginia and Massachusetts, and then some 11 more, and independence from Britain..
According to Article 6, clause 2 of the Constitution, enacted more than a decade later:
“This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.”
That’s the supremacy clause, which gives priority to the U.S. Constitution and federal laws.
Yet the states remain prominent in many internal fields. And now, their anti-abortion laws include:
– Requiring parental consent for minors
– A waiting period between application and administration
– Allowing abortion only at the beginning of pregnancy, with terms varying from state to state
– Required counseling
– Denial of insurance coverage
– Rules on medication to produce abortion
– Allowing abortion in the cases of rape, incest, or a pregnancy that endangers health of mother or the fetus
– State controls over clinic facilities
– The kinds of abortion permitted
– Control over those performing abortion
– Requiring those who know about an abortion to report it, with penalties for those who do not
In many states, these provisions were enacted with trigger clauses, to put them into effect if, and when, the Supreme Court turned against Roe v. Wade.
For the violation of one or more of these provisions, it is possible to find state laws providing punishments up to 20 years in prison, and fines of $100,000.
But we don’t know about the enforcement, here or there, in 50 states. How many officials and cops simply overlook what are ostensible violations?
There has been widespread opposition to the Supreme Court decision, and proposals for national legislation to assert a right of abortion. But there are close divisions in the House and Senate.
And proposals to forbid the sale of contraceptives, and to forbid travel to another state for the purposes of abortion.
There are, to remind us, 50 states, each with its political traditions and current squabbles.
In a recent year there were 864,000 abortions across the U.S., and 55,000 in Texas. Texas is a huge state, and now has one of the most restrictive set of anti-abortion laws.
Eighty-nine percent of U.S. counties have no abortion clinics.
And organizations that provide help, and financing, for women to obtain abortions.
Religious groups are divided. According to a Pew Research Center poll from May of this year, White Evangelicals are most opposed to abortion — twice as much as Catholics, and with only 5% of White Evangelicals in favor. Thirteen percent of Catholics support abortion, and 10% of them oppose it. Most religious groups poll in the center, saying that there are some cases when abortion should be legal, and other cases when it should be prohibited.
Overall, Pew found that 71% of Americans believe abortion should be legal in some circumstances and illegal in others. Nineteen percent, or about 1 in 5 Americans, think abortion should be legal in all cases, and 8% say it should be illegal without any exceptions.