December 1, Roe v Wade

December 2, 2021

December 1, Roe v Wade

 

Do women have the right to choose?

Or may states take that right away?

These were the two opposing views

Presented to the Court today.

 

For fifty years, since Roe v Wade,

Our women had that basic right.

But now that right may be betrayed,

Attacked by the religious right.

 

Should post birth viability,

The standard used in Roe v Wade,

Grant fetal life equality

Or fall to this Red State crusade?

 

Is there some fetal sanctity,

Are all conceptions blessed by God?

Incest and rape-caused pregnancy?

Could that suggest their god is flawed?

 

Should previous decisions stand,

“Stare decisis” govern here?  (1)

Should Roe v Wade still rule the land

And give all women cause to cheer?

 

Does Roe v Wade offend The Church?

Should all abortions be a crime?

Read history; do some research;

The Church has waffled over time.  (2)

 

Are Justices political?

Controlled by their religious views?

Do they learn to be critical,

In law books or in their church pews?

 

From questions that we all could hear,

Trump’s three appointees changed the Court.

So women have good cause to fear

The end to Roe’s right to abort.

 

If right wing judges have their way,

Then it’s quite clear the reddest states

Will take the right to choose away.

An anxious nation now awaits.

 

  • Stare decisis: to stand decided. Precedent is important but not absolute.  Roe v Wade (1973) gave women the right to have an abortion until the fetus is likely to be viable outside the womb.

Planned Parenthood v Casey (1992) upheld Roe v Wade and added the consideration that women should not have an undue burden placed on them by any restrictions that may be enacted by the states.

  • Throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance, Popes have gone back and forth about whether or not aborting a fetus at any stage of pregnancy was murder. Exactly when the soul entered the fetus was debated for centuries.  In 1588, Pope Sixtus V ruled that all abortion was murder and required excommunication.  No further Papal Bulls disagreed.  In 1870, the first Vatican Council voted that the Pope, when speaking “Ex Cathedra,” (officially) was infallible.  So the ruling of Sixtus V stands.