Richard Cohen of the Washington Post on Roe and abortion:
Conservatives — and some liberals — have long argued that the right to an abortion ought to be regulated by states. They have a point. My guess is that the more populous states would legalize it, the smaller ones would not, and most women would be protected. The prospect of some women traveling long distances to secure an abortion does not cheer me — I’m pro-choice, I repeat — but it would relieve us all from having to defend a Supreme Court decision whose reasoning has not held up. It seems more fiat than argument.
For liberals, the trick is to untether abortion rights from Roe . The former can stand even if the latter falls. The difficulty of doing this is obvious. Roe has become so encrusted with precedent that not even the White House will say how Harriet Miers would vote on it, even though she is rigorously antiabortion and politically conservative. Still, a bad decision is a bad decision. If the best we can say for it is that the end justifies the means, then we have not only lost the argument — but a bit of our soul as well.
I hope to one day see all abortion banned in every American state, but it is good to see that even pro-choice liberals are beginning to admit that Roe vs Wade is a Constitutional abomination. Richard Cohen is to be congratulated, not because he has suddenly transformed himself into a pro-life champion of unborn humanity – he has not – but because he has demonstrated unusual courage in taking on his party’s most sacred cow.
A Supreme Court that rules by fiat is in no one’s interest. The court that can create a fictitious right to privacy is one that can take away anyone’s right to free speech, property and liberty. Judicial activism in pursuit of what are political goals is a sword that cuts both ways, and Republicans would be as foolish to take it up as some Democrats are beginning to realize they have been.