ROE v WADE at 37 - LET US NEVER FORGET

Thirty seven years ago today, on January 22, 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court in the landmark Roe v Wade case, decided that unborn children may be aborted or killed, for any reason, up until the point at which the unborn child becomes viable outside the mother's womb. In other words, seven jurist overruled the right to life that was granted to all human beings by God, as expressed in our Declaration of Independence, to the unborn child.

The Court rested their opinion on what they determined to be a constitutional right to privacy they believe emanated from the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. By this judge made law they denied the unborn child not only the right to life but the right of due process of law.

Pro-life supported have taken the position that life begins at conception, after all the definition of conception (according to Webster's College Dictionary) is; the originating of something, as; the beginning of pregnancy. therefore, the human fetus, from the moment of conception, is a human being entitled to the God given right to life and the Constitutional right to due process of the law.

Opponents of Roe have also pointed out that the decision is without a valid constitutional foundation because the Constitution is silent on the issue of abortion.

Laws have been enacted in response to Roe v Wade in many states to limit or regulate abortion, such as; requiring parental consent for minors to obtain an abortion, parental notification, requiring that abortion can only be performed in a safe hospital setting and not at a clinic, requiring a waiting period and time to reflect before an abortion, laws banning state funding of abortions, and laws barring the barbaric practice of intact dilation and extraction which is also known as partial birth abortion. In 1976, Congress passed the Hyde Amendment, barring federal funding of abortion through Medicaid.

Two justices dissented from the Roe decision, Byron White and William Rehnquist.

Justice White asserted that the Court, "Values the convenience of the pregnant mother more than the continued existence and development of the life or potential life she carries." He also criticized the Court for involving itself in the issue by creating, "A constitutional barrier to state efforts to protect human life and by investing mothers and doctors with the constitutionally protected right to exterminate it."

In his dissent Justice White wrote,

"I find nothing in the language or history of the Constitution to support the Court's judgement. The Court simply fashions and announces a new constitutional right for pregnant mothers and, with scarcely any reason or authority for its actions, invests that right with sufficient substance to override most existing state abortion statutes."

Justice Rehnquist felt that, "the drafters did not intend to have the Fourteenth Amendment withdraw from the States the power to legislate with respect to this matter."

In his dissent Justice Rehnquist wrote,

"To reach its result, the Court necessarily has had to find within the scope of the Fourteenth Amendment a right that was apparently completely unknown to the drafters of the Amendment."

Every year on the anniversary of the Roe v Wade decision, which has resulted in the killing of millions of unborn children, supporters of the pro-life movement have demonstrated outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington DC, determined to keep the issue alive.

In Arizona we have the annual March and Rally for Life.

The 37th Annual March and Rally for Life will take place this Sunday, January 24. The March will begin at 12:30 PM at Brophy College Prep, 4701 N Central in Phoenix about a half mile north of Indian School Road. The Rally will start at 1 PM at Indian Steel Park located north of Indian School Road between Central and Seventh Street behind the Veterans Hospital.

Confirmed speakers include;

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, Bishop Thomas Olmsted, Senator Jon Kyl, Congressmen John Shadegg and Trent Franks, along with Arizona Senator Linda Gray and Arizona Representative Nancy Barto.

The colors will be proudly presented by the local U.S. Marine Corps Reserves, Bulk Fuel Company, Color Guard.