The End of Roe?

The Supreme Court announced this morning that it will take up the issue of partial-birth abortion. This is great news. Only a small percentage of Americans believe this abortion procedure should remain legal — not surprising, considering how gruesome it is. (For a full description of how a baby is killed in a partial-birth abortion, click here.) Annie and I frequently give talks on abortion to high school and junior high audiences, and we’ve seen a range of emotional reactions from students when we describe partial-birth abortion: wincing, squirming, looking down and covering their ears — I’ve even had kids run out of the room crying. Who can blame them? When you realize how horrific partial-birth abortion is, reactions like these are understandable. Yet in spite of the disgust that most people feel toward partial-birth abortion, it remains legal — as it has since January 22, 1973, when the Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton decisions were handed down. That’s why this new partial-birth abortion case, Gonzales v. Carhart, is so important. If the Supreme Court says that one particular abortion procedure can be banned, then the door is open for laws to be passed banning other — maybe even all other — abortion procedures.