Supreme Court leak highlights potential change in abortion laws
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In My Humble Opinion
Jodi McDade
I’m watching the reports of a “leak” from the Supreme Court of the United States. We have now lost all sense of integrity, honesty, principle, and trust in the halls of our government.
We have grown accustomed to it in the halls of Congress, our top law enforcement agencies and security agencies, military, and our state governments, but we have never had this happen in the highest court of our nation.
It really does not matter what the topic of the leak is, the problem is the fact of the leak itself. Whoever is determined to have done this should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of whatever law can be used against them, disbarred and blocked from any future employment with any government agency.
SCOTUS has been the last bastion of secrecy, and it is now lost. This is an investigation that needs to be started immediately and the person(s) responsible identified. This CANNOT be swept under the rug like many other issues have been.
It’s strange to me that protesters seemed to have been prepared to show up outside the Supreme Court building. They had pre-made signs and were ready to go. How did THEY know?
I realize we are now living in the world of instant media, but even this seems staged to me – at this point at least. This is another area that needs to be investigated.
The fact the leak regards a potential change to our abortion laws outlined by Roe v. Wade is significant, but it could have been about any number of important cases that were being considered by our Supreme Court.
However, this is a case that has been firmly planted in the differences between left/right, liberal/conservative for years. It has now gotten to the point that abortion is considered “women’s health care” and, therefore, a RIGHT. Sorry, but that is not MY opinion or that of many others in our country.
I grew up in a time that birth control was non-existent. An unplanned pregnancy was considered an embarrassment on the entire family, resulted in either a forced marriage or the girl being sent away for a period of time, the end of the girl’s education, and/or a difficult decision of whether to raise the baby or put it up for adoption.
For some girls – and I use this term to include females of all ages – the decision to have an illegal abortion was costly, done in back alleyways not necessarily by medically trained people, done under unsanitary conditions, and sometimes ended in her death or the inability to have future children. These were just some of the issues behind the fight for legal abortions.
About that time, birth control options were coming on the market, but they were difficult to get. Some physicians refused to prescribe them – especially to underage girls. Parents and spouses had to provide approval in some cases. And, anyone found using birth control were considered “loose” or “tramps” – not much better than the names that went with unwed mothers.
Even in the beginning of legal abortions, it was difficult to find doctors to perform them, and there were not many locations to which girls could go. The time constraint on how far along the girl was had a huge bearing, and many ran out of time before they found somewhere to go. And, again, parents and/or spouses had to be consulted in the early years.
With all this said, I do not understand why there is ANY reason for the wholesale abortion business we have now. Birth control is unlimited, available even without prescription, and does not have the same stigma it had in my day.
I understand there are “mistakes,” but not in the numbers that equate to the number of abortions being performed. And, the fact that the taxpayers are being required to pay for abortions makes it even worse. “Women’s health care” is being under a doctor’s care to PREVENT an unwanted pregnancy, not to wait until the pregnancy happens.
From my understanding, the case being considered by the Supreme Court would mean that the legality of abortion would no longer be determined at the federal level, but would be returned to each sovereign state to decide what their citizens want. If that’s correct, each state will be responsible for deciding if abortions are legal in their state, and, if so, what are the parameters – up to 15 weeks, 23 weeks, or the day of birth.
If someone lives in a state that does not have legal abortions, they could move to another state if they feel that the issue is so important to them, avoid the need for an abortion, or pay to go to another state to get an abortion if wanted.
Again, abortions are not a “right.” We the taxpayers should not be paying for these procedures – legal or not.
If I’m not mistaken, birth control is available at no charge in some cases, covered by insurance, or available at some clinics. I’d much rather my tax dollars went to pay for birth control than for the murder of an unborn baby.
I am now hearing our president saying that this ruling, if it happens, will have fundamental changes on our range of other rights, as well. He sounds like he is saying that all the left-leaning changes in our laws could be up for review – sounds good to me!
I’m sure there will be much more info coming out by the time this column is published – in fact, it has changed since I started typing!
What say you?