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Edited on Fri Nov-05-04 08:10 AM by JDWalley
...a resolutely "pro-life" SCOTUS could, in the decision overturning Roe, also declare that, as a definition with legal precedent, "human life" begins at conception. That means that every murder law on the books would automatically apply to abortion as well, and no state decision ruling otherwise would count.
OTOH, I'm not at all convinced that Bush et. al. would actually appoint jurors that would overturn Roe altogether. Maybe his religious beliefs might trump his political calculations (but I seriously doubt it -- and am sure KKKarl would set him on the right track if they did), but ending abortion is not in the G.O.P.'s interest. First of all, it would lose them a huge issue that they use to keep a hold on the fundie vote. Second, it would mobilize and swell the ranks of those on the left -- if you think abortion is a hot button issue on one side right now, think of what having the right to an abortion taken away would do to stir up the other side.
Republican presidents have been denouncing abortion, and making common cause with the religious right over the issue, since the days of Reagan. Nonetheless, despite having conservative Republicans in the White House for sixteen of those twenty-four years, and having made many SCOTUS appointments over that period, they have never put together the five votes needed to overturn Roe. My suspicion is that what they really want is not so much an end to abortion but a situation where abortion is always on the table as an issue that can be blamed on those awful liberal Democrats -- something that they can promise to end in the indefinite future, but not quite just yet.
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