Let’s do democracy
To the editor:
The Supreme Court’s ruling on Roe v. Wade in 1973 was similar to the Supreme Court’s action in 1857 on the Dred Scott ruling.
The U.S. Supreme court in the Dred Scott decision ruled that Dred Scott, a former slave, had no rights and ruled that all of the States were essentially slave states. The Northern States and the Louisiana Territory had legislation making that part of the country slave free. The Supreme Court overruled the legislation of all the states.
In a similar fashion, in 1973 the Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade ruled that the unborn has no rights and ruled that all the states shall have legal abortion.
The Roe V. Wade ruling, like Dred Scott was not a constitutional issue. The Supreme Court of 1973 invented “the right of privacy” as a reason to make abortion legal. “Right to privacy” was not found in an amendment but was manipulated from a Griswold vs. Connecticut (1965) ruling that dealt with personal liberty by stretching the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment (liberty) or the Ninth Amendment (cover all rights).
The unborn and the slaves had something in common — no rights even to death. All those states that were against abortion were overruled by judges on the court without using the constitution as the reference. This new ruling in June 2022 allows each state a democratic process for the abortion issue allowing voters to participate. Some will choose to abort the unborn and others will choose to save them.
1857 and 1973 are both great examples of what happens when Judges legislate from the bench. This is very dangerous to our democracy. The Dred Scott ruling was an accessory in starting the civil war and Roe V. Wade cost the lives of millions of unborn children. The Supreme Court’s sole responsibility is to measure law versus the constitution and take action if a law is misinterpreted. It is not to invent reasons to pass popular legislation bypassing the democratic process. Now, thanks to the recent ruling, abortion is where it belongs: States will each make their own law based upon citizens voting for candidates or for an abortion referendum. That is called Democracy.
In regard to whether the fetus is a real live person, note that the laws of this country make the violent death of a fetus caused by someone other than the mother to be a homicide and the penalty is severe. Abortion may seem to be non-violent but not to the unborn.
John Benedict
Cape Coral