The Supreme Court's Involvement with Abortion

The Supreme Court's Involvement with Abortion

Never in the history of the United States, with the exception of the Slave Trade, has a public policy carved such an unmistakable social divide. Never before has a public policy spurned so many questions about social and political standards of American culture. To understand the abortion controversy and ultimately the Supreme Court’s involvement and decision in Roe v. Wade, the roots of abortion must be examined.

The American public turned to the Supreme Court to seek a resolution for the abortion conflict. Interest groups from both sides of the abortion spectrum realized their ability to effect abortion policy was much greater if fought in the courtroom, “litigation offered the potential for deciding the issue far more quickly than would be achieved through a state-by-state effort to win repeal (p.32).” Opposing viewpoints and disagreeing philosophies prevented legislature from formulating a national abortion policy. The pro-life ideology of conservative republicans was in direct conflict with the pro-choice ideology of liberal democrats. The federal system, with its system of checks and balances, left legislatures on both the federal and state level in an abortion stalemate. The dilemma faced by the legislature is exemplified by Karen O’Connor, “The fact that abortion has become an issue only non-elected officials seem able to moderate-if not resolve-leads conservatives to argue that the political system has failed because such an issue should be handled by the legislative branch, and liberals to argue that abortion is an individual decision properly made apart from government (p.115).” Soon, it was apparent that the burden of resolving the abortion issue would be placed upo...

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...cial science can change over time. Well, the perils of basing decisions on social science are no different then basing decisions on medical science; they are both limited to time.

Overall, Roe v. Wade was well handled by the Supreme Court. The Justices did an exceptional job reviewing the case in a strict legal sense, free from moral, ethnical and religious beliefs. As Justice Blackman wrote in his Opinion, “Our task, of course, is to resolve the issue by constitutional measurement, free of emotion and of predilection (p.48).” Although there are problems with the trimester system, as the decision becomes entrapped in the medical technology of the period, the Court’s decision in Roe to protect the right’s of women to obtain abortions under the U.S. Constitution was properly decided.

Bibliography:

No Neutral Ground:Abortion Politics in an Age of Absolutes