It is often assumed that, by striking down state abortion laws, the US Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade abortion decision accomplished what the states on their own were doing. In other words, Roe did not impose its legal will on the states. Yet, as the philosopher Russell Hittinger points out, the push to legalize abortion had peaked before Roe v. Wade. The Court got both America and the law wrong.
"A few weeks before the 1972 referendum in Michigan, the polls showed that 56 percent of the people in Michigan supported the proposal to repeal laws against abortion. However, when the votes were counted, 61 percent voted down the repeal proposal. This was the last statewide test of abortion on demand before the Supreme Court imposed its own solution, and it represented an overwhelming rejection of the idea that individuals are answerable to no one other than themselves in the matter of abortion. As the 1964 Congressional civil-rights legislation indicates, these same citizens supported repeal of segregation and racial discrimination. The fact remains, however, that they would not willingly do the same for sexual 'rights.' Provided a level playing field, without any intervention by federal courts, citizens in almost every state and region rejected the absolute claims of sexual liberty. Remarkably, into the 1970s, the sexual revolution notwithstanding, citizens voted on these matters more or less the same as had their grandparents." The Free Library, Lifewatch (p. 1)
Editor: This is a fascinating journey through recent American history. Don't miss it!
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