Does the Public Understand Roe v Wade?

[GenuineRisk]

And if I haven't been clear - it is the current state of the law that I find objectionable. That law - decided by nine unelected Supreme Court justices in 1973 - has led other citizens down this path. In other words, there was no legal abortion before 1973. In times past, people would have found a way to have the baby and make it work. Or they would have planned better.

No, they had self-induced abortions by jamming a coat hanger into their uterus, often perforating themselves and dying very grim deaths. Or were cut to bits by back-alley abortionists. Or stuck an electrical cord into their uterus and electrocuted themselves. Or drank bleach. Or... there is ample documentation of the numerous, gruesome ways women killed themselves in attempts to rid themselves of unwanted pregnancies. Many of these women left children and spouses behind.

I had a friend who was in ballet school in the late 1960's and she told me it quickly got around the school that there was a doctor who would provide abortions to any girl who needed one, no questions asked. Because his own daughter had gotten pregnant, was too afraid to tell him, and died from a back-alley abortion. He wanted to make sure no other parent lost a daughter the way he had.

Roe v Wade, by the way, does not guarantee a right to abortion at any point; it says states may make no law unduly limiting access during the first trimester and permits increasing levels of difficulty during the second and third trimester, which is why it is extremely difficult to get a late-term abortion. The awful thing about that being that late-term abortions are very rare, and are sought out by people who want the child but have discovered that there is something seriously wrong with the fetus. As in, brain outside the body level of wrong. So our current government sees fit to make an awful, painful decision for parents even harder, and to limit women's access to safe care in such situations. Yay small government! (weeps)