More on Constitutional Arguments About Abortion
By Jesse Singal - Oct 2nd, 2008 at 12:18 pmPer my earlier post, anyone interested in how conservatives who do believe in a constitutionally guaranteed right to privacy frame anti-abortion legal arguments should check out Adam Serwer’s post on the subject over at TAPPED. Serwer mentions a Clarence Thomas opinion in which Thomas explains that, although there is a right to privacy, abortion is a “unique act.”
Serwer explains:
So even if the Constitution protects a right to privacy, that doesn’t mean you have a right to privacy if you’re a woman who wants to have an abortion, because abortion is a “unique act”. You might just conclude that opposition to abortion has absolutely nothing to do with originalism at all. Which is why, I suppose, conservatives don’t have a problem with Palin stating a non-originalist point of view on abortion, since the important thing is that she’s opposed to abortion, not that she understands the legal reasoning behind opposing it.
Obviously, anyone who is pro-choice has strong moral reasons for being so. But it’s just as important to understand how conservatives seek to use the law to chip away at choice, in this case by creating a special category for abortion.
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