Question about Roe v. Wade

[Onlooker]

It's generally said that if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, the decision on abortion rights will be left to the individual states. But, can't the SC rule that a fetus is a human life protected by the Constitution, in which case abortion would be outlawed in the individual states? Any idea?

[leftofcool]

1. If the SC overturns Roe V wade

they kick the decision back to each state to decide for themselves. Some states will ban it and some will not.

[iceman66]

4. This is true.

But don't forget that McCain is on record supporting a constitutional amendment to ban abortion, and the official Republican party platform opposes abortion even in cases of rape or incest.

I think we need to play up the rape and incest angle. Many people might not have a problem with abortion in general being left up to the states, but this is an extreme position that is far outside the mainstream.

[treestar]

2. The most the courts can do is decide whether the Constitution allows

for a certain law. They can't rule on things generally. For Roe v. Wade, they were examining a particular law which made abortion illegal, and ended up deciding the such a law conflicts with the Constitution and therefore cannot stand. So the most they could do is say that they overrule Roe v. Wade and it would follow that a state law that prohibited abortion was fine under the Constitution. So each state could decide whether it would have such a law or not. Some state constitutions would not allow for such a law and could overturn one themselves.

The Constitution doesn't say anything about when life begins, so the Supreme Court is forever shut off from the subject. At most they can say is that a state can have a law prohibiting abortion and it not go against the federal constitution.

[DangerDave921]

3. the argument

has always been that abortion is not in the constitution so that the SCOTUS should not even touch it one way or the other. In other words, the SCOTUS can't define what a fetus is any more than it can define what it is not. So by all rights, the SCOTUS should just leave the abortion issue totally alone. That is, if the RW'ers stick to their own logic. So it would revert to the states to decide. Then again, there's no predicting what an unruly court can try to do. WHich is why the SCOTUS is probably more of a long-term concern to this country than a president.