Wednesday, November 2, 2005
Questions on Abortion
MOJ reader and prominent law professor Steve Shiffrin sends along these questions, prompted by my recent post about abortion law in Portugal:
Your MOJ post on Portugal got me thinking. Because Europe does not have Roe v. Wade, abortion politics have taken a less strident tone there (as they tended to before Roe in the U.S.). The result of the democratic processes is that second trimester abortions are regulated far more strictly in Europe than here, and, of course, restrictions in some (many?) European countries exist in the first trimester. Portugal is one of the most restrictive. Support for those restrictions has declined for at least two reasons. First, there is substantial evidence that the restrictive laws in the first trimester are ineffective: Portuguese women still have abortions either in other countries or illegally. Second, the government made the mistake of prosecuting some women who secured illegal abortions (in addition to the doctors). . . .What I am wondering is this:A. If Roe were overturned (I am not sure this will happen in the next decade), what would be the range of views of the posters on MOJ on what the post-Roe policies should be?(1) Should abortion be outlawed in all circumstances? Life of the mother? Physical health of the mother? Rape? Etc.(2) What should the penalties be? Should they be different from murder?(3) Should abortion patients be prosecuted?(4) Should the failure to pass restrictive abortion legislation be considered a violation of the equal protection clause?(5) Should a constitutional amendment be passed enacting restrictive policies on abortion nationwide?B. As a separate, but related matter, one might discern from some statements of the American and European bishops that pragmatic considerations should play no role in determining whether the criminal law should be employed to deal with moral evils. Yet, my understanding is that there is a longstanding counter tradition in the Church. If there is, how does that tradition relate to abortion politics?
Steve has asked for our views. What do people think?
https://mirrorofjustice.blogs.com/mirrorofjustice/2005/11/questions_on_ab.html