Brett Kavanaugh’s Woman Problem
Obviously, Condoleeza Rice did not get the memo: Brett Kavanaugh is a threat to American women. The senate confirmation hearings featured pro-choice worry-warts venting their fear and loathing of a conservative justice, who MIGHT overturn Roe v. Wade. This week Diane Feinstein (D-CA) introduced a woman’s complaint that high-schooler Kavanaugh tried to force himself on her (she escaped). Smears and theatrics aside, Americans have a right to question how a 5-4 conservative court might view doctor-assisted abortions. However, women should not be overly concerned because a Roberts Court believes Roe v. Wade is settled law (based on the legal principle of stare decisis).
By my count, seven justices are unlikely to reverse what the Supreme Court has already deliberated and decided. Stare decisis informs the current court that, unless exceptional circumstances arise or the settled law becomes unworkable, there will be no outright ban on doctor-assisted abortions. In the words of Arlen Specter (R-PA), after 38 Supreme Court rulings that have refined and clarified abortion guidelines, Roe v. Wade is now a super-precedent. This might disappoint some conservative Christians, but the absolute-ban train has left town.
I consider a woman’s right to self-regulate her personal health the paramount right to privacy. It is none of our business if a woman engages in un-protected sex, smokes cigarettes and drinks vodka during her pregnancy, or brings a newborn home to a drug-dealing biological father. Our right to privacy is the first line of defense against the “snitch state” imposed by totalitarian regimes, and America works best when 325 million people paddle their own canoes and mind their own business.
The First Amendment prevents conservative Christians from conflating church and state, which the founding fathers rightly wanted to remain separate. Freedom of religion protects expressions of private conscience that may shape the public debate; however, this freedom does not supersede the right of a single woman to make decisions about her health and well-being. In the USA, individuals are free to join (or leave) a church, couples are free to choose a church wedding, parents are free to have their children baptized or christened, and households are free to make monetary offerings to a church. Period.
American churches should express their abortion views from the pulpit and with public awareness campaigns. Many churches are invested in engagement and marriage counseling to preserve nuclear families, rather than pressing the courts for an anti-divorce ruling. Legalizing doctor-assisted abortions was meant to end the horror of “back alley” quack-assisted abortions. I consider it a compassion-driven ruling, akin to the many Christian denominations that operate orphanages for “unwanted” children. As a practical matter, conservative Christians could decide to operate delivery-to-adoption hospitals as an alternative to abortion.
I am a Christian and find it spiritually inconsistent to be both pro-life and support the death penalty. No mortal knows if a pregnancy will produce a moral life or if someone on death row is beyond rehabilitation. The book Freakonomics makes a compelling data-based case that inner-city abortions have reduced inner-city crime. Many economists credit fewer unexpected (and unwanted) pregnancies to the growing numbers of female executives and business owners. These arguments suggest the “church” should not interfere with the “state” on doctor-assisted abortion.
The problem with both sides of abortion politics are the screamers that are invested in the revenue models, which employ tens of thousands of people and fund thousands of political campaigns. I doubt those inside either camp really want final clarification, and I suspect politicians support the never-ending argument as a source of funding. When an issue become an employment institution, the screamers have no incentive to move on. Let me see, Mrs. Bornagen, how did your employment as a harassment agent outside of Planned Parenthood qualify you to be a loan agent?
A woman’s pursuit of happiness is more complex than access to doctor-assisted abortions. Still, single-issue railbirds hijack town-hall meetings and political committees, detracting from other women’s issues. Kavanaugh will play a role in where everyone’s personal privacy is headed, and how the regulatory state treats woman-owned businesses. Elsewhere, jihadists want to make America safe for concubines and drug cartels want to encourage more crack mothers. But - - who’s paying attention?