The Supreme Court And Abortion

To the Editor:

Another Supreme Court confirmation battle is underway, and the nominee’s views about Roe vs Wade have already been the subject of controversy. The strategy of abortion supporters in the Senate and among interest groups will be to present Roe as mainstream, and to label those who oppose it as extreme. Some will assert that a Supreme Court Justice who opposes Roe is not qualified to serve on the court. Of course, this conveniently ignores the fact that the former Chief Justice of the United States was one of the two dissenting votes in the 7-2 Roe vs Wade decision in 1973. Moreover, the plaintiff “Jane Roe” (Norma McCorvey) now rejects the decision and works to reverse it.

Another significant fact is that the American people have never supported the Roe vs Wade policy of legal abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy. Polling on abortion consistently reveals that the majority of Americans support the legality of the procedure in cases of rape, incest, or threats to the mother’s life and physical health, but that support quickly declines below the majority when other reasons are brought forward. Because abortions for physical health, rape, and incest constitute a minuscule fraction of the procedures, it is true to say that most Americans oppose most abortions.

An analysis of polling questions, done by Professor Raymond Adamek, shows that most questions about Roe vs Wade misrepresent the decision. The questions state that Roe allowed abortion during the first three months of pregnancy. This is not the whole truth.

As the University of Detroit Law Review pointed out, “The Supreme Court’s decisions allowed abortion on demand throughout the entire nine months of pregnancy,” which includes death upon birth called partial birth abortion. Since Roe vs Wade, 46 million people here in the United States have been killed. This selective killing under the Hitler regime has condemned Germany in the eyes of the world. On the court were also US judges. What a change in judging!

Helga J. Roegele

40 Chestnut Hill Road, Sandy Hook                       October 10, 2005