Sarah Palin is on a mission. Her fellow Republicans have signed on. At their convention, Senator Fred Thompson urged that "we need a president who doesn't think the protection of the unborn is above his pay grade." This makes mystifying the (possibly temporary) Palin-inspired 20% shift of white American women from Obama to McCain.
Roe v. Wade was MIA at the Democratic Convention. Other than a vague slap at "right wing judges," Hillary Clinton stayed clear. Barack Obama mentioned abortion almost apologetically. Since Denver, Speaker Nancy Pelosi was castigated for suggesting that Catholics disagree while upcoming Palin debater Joe Biden declared he personally believes life begins at conception.
But beyond the Democrats' mixed message, there is another reason for this apparent shift in women's public opinion: few south of 50 have experienced pregnancy without choice. While Hillary Clinton's supporters are described as "aging feminists," younger women have flocked to Obama. They had better rediscover Roe -- or they will suddenly wake up in "those thrilling days of yesteryear."
In elections past, there were six solid Supreme Court votes for Roe. That number has now dropped to five. President McCain could replace three of those. The pro-choice crowd has been accused of crying wolf in the past but he and his new mate are now at the White House door.
If the coming election is lost, to put the matter bluntly, women will come full circle. Overruling Roe would return choice to the states. (In theory, a radical Court actually could find that "life begins at conception," entitling the fetus to the full panoply of constitutional rights).
There are few threats to people's belief in democracy greater than its usurpation by the exercise of judicial power. Yet, in the words of Justice Jackson, "the very purpose of the Bill of Rights is to withdraw certain subjects from the vicissitudes of political controversy, to place them beyond the reach of majorities." On such occasions, those with opposing views rightly feel disempowered - and usually angry. The hard core of today's Democratic Party remains furious over Bush v. Gore - where voters' very ability to choose its president was "withdrawn from the vicissitudes of political controversy." And the hard core of the Republican Party remains equally furious over the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.
There are few issues more sensitive, personal and, yes, religious, than "when life begins." American anti-abortion laws were adopted in the 19th century through efforts by religious leaders (and the fledging AMA). Before that, and since colonial times, abortions were lawful before "quickening," the first sign of movement by the fetus as determined by the pregnant woman. Given their sensitive nature, abortion decisions were held subject to a Constitutional right to privacy. Given their religious nature, doing so motivated abortion opponents.
Less than one year after Roe, in 1974 a meeting was convened that included Billy Graham and more than two dozen fundamentalist Christians. The resulting Christian Freedom Foundation sought "to rebuild the foundation of the Republic as it was first founded -- as a Christian Republic."
The rest is history. In the words of The National Right to Life Committee's first director, "the Roe decision mobilized a grassroots campaign the likes of which had never been seen... it awoke the proverbial giant." The "1.5 million babies aborted every year" were in need of protection from Justice Jackson's majority. Opposition to Roe brought together two previously antagonistic religious groups that still provide the Republican base - Catholics and evangelical Protestants.
Roe was not the sole cause of the rise of the religious right. So too were the "excesses" of the 1960s and modern feminism (contrary to Ephesians 22-23's command that "wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord"). But Roe provided the troops for an army that Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin now seeks to lead.
Roe v. Wade has prevented countless back street abortions, unwanted pregnancies and enormous hardship. Without it, the fight for the right to choose would still be being fought out, state by state. Citizens becoming pregnant in "red states" like Missouri, Ohio, and Florida, especially the poor, would still have no alternative -- no choice.
According to a new New York Times poll, while differing on various restrictions, nearly 75% of Americans oppose an abortion ban including 60% of Republicans. The Obama campaign should make choice a central theme -- pledging to enact The National Right to Choice Act. Even if the election goes to McCain, such federal legislation should be pressed, forcing the hand -- and the vote -- of Republican senators who claim to be for women's rights but confirm Hillary's right wing judges.
It's time to let Ms. Roe have her beauty sleep...