On Nov. 15, Kathleen Parker, a supposedly conservative columnist -- whose work is syndicated nationally, including in the News Tribune -- came to the defense of the three-decade-old court opinion, Roe v. Wade. In her commentary, "U.S. should stand against China's forced abortions," Parker illustrated what can happen in a nation where the government, not individuals, controls the important and private decisions related to procreation.
The Chinese government's ability to force abortions upon its populace is based on the Chinese government's right to determine whether one must carry a child to term.
Here in America, with the Ninth and 14th Amendments on her side, a woman, individually, is the only one to make this decision. This individual right, which has been constantly threatened by those on the political right, is the only protection against a government deciding if a child should or should not be born.
In Parker's article we see that one can morally disagree with abortion as a choice, but that all Americans have no choice but to support not just Roe v. Wade but those wise individuals who have stood their ground and struggled to keep this choice a personal one.
As Justice Black wrote in his opinion of Roe v. Wade, "The decision whether or not to have an abortion..." is a woman's right.
ADVERTISEMENT
Dane G. Hedquist
Carlton
