Commentary
It shouldn’t be surprising to anyone that the pro-abortion lobby is seeking to require abortion on demand for any reason until the moment of birth in all 50 states. Whether it’s through
litigation or the Orwellian-named “Women’s Health Protection Act,” attempting to mandate their radically extremist position through federal law confirms what I first encountered in the days following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in
Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
Seated next to two intelligent, well-credentialed women to discuss an incredibly important topic, I was struck by how different our outlooks on the same issue were. It was almost as if we hadn’t all grown up in the same nation. Where I saw an opportunity for America to lead the world in upholding the dignity of women and children, the two women on either side of me saw a country in disarray.
We were three of the five witnesses at the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s
hearing exploring a post-
Roe legal landscape after the Supreme Court’s historic decision to overturn that egregious ruling. One of the women was a law professor, and the other was a lieutenant governor; they both repeatedly referred to the “chaos” that had supposedly resulted since the Supreme Court held that there wasn’t a constitutional right to abortion and returned the issue to the states.
“I cannot overstate the level of harm and chaos that the Dobbs decision has already caused,” stated UC Berkeley School of Law professor Khiara Bridges.
“We are in the midst of seeing the kind of chaos that has been created by this decision,” Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton opined. “It is chaotic, and it is something that is causing harm and causes insurmountable challenges, quite frankly, for those who are trying to figure out what’s possible.”
Adding to their commentary was Planned Parenthood’s Dr. Colleen McNicholas, who also testified at the hearing: “We are already seeing mass chaos among OBGYNs, emergency room physicians, and quite frankly pharmacists.”
What they were describing as “chaotic” is nothing more than freedom—and the sometimes noisy and inartful business of self-government. Federalism, in a democratic republic, gives a voice to the people. Different states, with different citizens, craft their own policies through their democratic processes. The Dobbs decision simply allows the people of each state to decide their own abortion policy, as they had been accustomed to doing before the Supreme Court wrongly made one policy for all 50 states in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey.
The women beside me said they feared chaos, but maybe their real fear is democracy: people speaking for themselves and actually finding solutions for women and their families instead of unelected judges imposing their preferred one-size-fits-all solution. Or perhaps they fear the prospect of an actual policy debate on abortion in this nation as each state considers how best to protect the lives of the most vulnerable population of Americans: the unborn. For nearly half a century, the pro-abortion lobby has avoided the prospect of crafting a coherent argument in defense of the indefensible.
They were politically wise to do so.
They know the majority of Americans are nowhere close to agreeing with their extremist position. The results of a
Harvard/Harris poll on abortion released in July show that less than 10 percent of the American public agrees with such radical policies as abortion up to the moment of birth. A solid majority oppose taxpayer funding of elective abortion, too.
Americans’ hearts and minds lean pro-life. Americans were never supportive of what Roe mandated, and they are quickly getting to work to ensure that policies more closely match citizens’ values. Meanwhile, the pro-abortion lobby is working to cut off any future debate on the issue by subjecting all states to a federally dictated agenda.
Ignoring the inescapable conclusion that the U.S. Constitution doesn’t include a right to an abortion, the outgoing Democrat-controlled Congress passed the
Women’s Health Protection Act, which would prevent states from protecting life and women’s health in accordance with what each state’s citizens want—legislation that goes so far as to guarantee a federal right to even sex- and race-based abortions.
Congressional Democrats want to completely overrule states’ interest in protecting human life from abortion. Despite
polling that continues to demonstrate that Americans oppose extreme pro-abortion policies, such as taxpayer funding of abortion or abortion through all nine months of pregnancy—which this bill would allow—these members of Congress still insist on catering to the abortion industry instead of listening to the American people.
As Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah)
said during the Judiciary Committee hearing at which I testified, “Makes me wonder whether those making these scurrilous arguments are simply afraid ... of the American people, simply afraid that when able to make this decision on their own, free from the judicial oligarchy that has reigned over this area of the law for the last 49 years, that they won’t make the same decision that the radical left would make.”
The Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs was more than an impressive display of judicial humility; it was a victory for the separation of powers, federalism, and self-government. Now the work of good policymaking begins.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
