Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Roe V. Wade 35th Anniversary...

Yup, Today is that day again. Many people will go through their day in regular routine and not once think about what this day means for even a second.

In 1973 the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that a woman has a constitutional right to an abortion during the first six months of pregnancy.Before the Court’s ruling, a majority of states prohibited abortion, although most allowed an exception when pregnancy threatened the woman’s life. The Court overturned these state prohibitions in Roe v. Wade. The Court ruled that states could restrict abortions only during the final three months of pregnancy, a stage when medical experts considered the fetus capable of “meaningful life” outside the womb.

Here's my question, who decides what's "meaningful life" and what isn't? Does a bum on the side of the road have a less meaningful life than me? Does a two year old baby have more meaning in life than an hour old baby?

Ms. Norma McCorvey (a.k.a. Jane Roe) thought the court should have that power back in 1973. She was 22, unmarried, pregnant, homeless, a drug addict and living on a park bench in Texas in 1969. She didn't know much about anything. But she ended up becoming the figurehead in the Supreme Court case that legalized abortion in America. However, in 1995 a Christian group moved into the office across the car park from Ms. McCorvey's abortion clinic. Over time, she came to accept their view, that abortion was not a woman's "fundamental right to choose," but the murder of an unborn child. She quit working in abortion clinics, gave up drugs and alcohol, converted to Catholicism, wrote a new book called "Won by Love" and established an anti-abortion group called "Roe No More."

My question to most people, after they hear what "Jane Roe" is up to now, is do you think the case should be overturned by the supreme court? Or is an amendment more efficient and more likely?