The following comes from an Oct. 29 interview in Catholic World Report with Clarke Forsythe, author of Abuse of Discretion: The Inside Story of Roe v. Wade. Forsythe is the senior counsel with Americans United for Life.
….CWR: You note that the United States is an outlier when it comes to abortion rights. How extreme is the United States juridical position compared to the rest of the world?
Forsythe: The U.S. is only of only four nations across the globe that allows abortion for any reason after fetal viability: China, North Korea, Canada, and the U.S.
CWR: Why did the justices adopt a standard of “viability” (meaning the stage in development when the child can survive outside the womb independent from the mother) and how does the Court’s definition of “health” factor into this?
Forsythe: For the first year of deliberations, the justices were only considering creating a right to abortion up to twelve weeks (the first trimester). Then after the second round of arguments in October 1972, the Justices began to negotiate behind the scenes as to the scope of the “right” and Justices Powell and Marshall lobbied Justice Blackmun to expand the right to viability, which they thought at the time occurred around 28 weeks. They did so for purely pragmatic reasons: to expand access to abortion. But then they outlined the Doe “health exception” after viability, which means that the states must allow abortion even after viability, at the discretion of the provider, for any reason related to the “emotional well-being” of the woman.
CWR: You observe that the idea that “abortion is safer than childbirth” was an influential factor in the justices deliberations on the matter. What medical or scientific research is this assumption based on?
Forsythe: Yes, that notion drove the entire outcome in Roe and Doe; it was the key medical assumption in the cases. Since there was no trial or evidentiary record in the lower courts in Roe and Doe, there was no factual evidence supporting that notion. That too was urged on the Justices by the attorneys and interest groups in the Supreme Court. The notion was based on maternal mortality numbers from the 1950s in Soviet Bloc countries. Today the notion is based on a mechanical comparison of the official published abortion mortality rate and the maternal (childbirth) mortality rate. But these rates are non-comparable because what goes into the numerators and denominators of the two rates is radically different. It’s apples and oranges.
CWR: So much of the language of abortion rights is touted under the banner of women’s health and women’s rights. Has legal abortion been a real service to women? And are there long-term studies that evidence the effects abortion has on these women in the long run?
Forsythe: One chapter in Abuse of Discretion examines the short-term and long-terms risks and negative impact on health and relationships. Abortion isn’t about women’s health; it’s just population control. There has been a growing body of international medical data on the long-term risks of abortion over the past two decades. We now have more than 130 international, peer-reviewed medical studies finding an increased risk of pre-term birth (PTB) after abortion. And we have more than a hundred international, peer-reviewed medical studies finding an increased risk of mental trauma after abortion.
CWR: Abortion is often described as the most polarizing political issue in the United States, yet you cite polls showing broad agreement that abortion is the ending of a human life and a general desire to limit abortion in most circumstances. If that’s the case, why can’t we carve out a common ground position in our public policy?
Forsythe: The Supreme Court (and the lower federal courts) through Roe and Doe control every aspect of abortion law and policy and practice, and prevents the American people from “carving out” any “common ground position.” As a practical matter, that is being done by the states when they pass the twenty week (five month) limits, supported by majority public opinion. But the abortion proponents file a case in federal court to get them blocked. As long as Roe and Doe remain the law, the public is prevented from agreeing on any “common ground position.”
CWR: If Roe is eventually overturned by the Supreme Court, as so many pro-life advocates are hopeful for, where and when will abortion be legal? And what will the task of the pro-life movement then be?
Forsythe: If Roe was overturned today, abortion would be legal in 40 to 45 states tomorrow because there are no enforceable prohibitions on the books in those states. Pro-life legislators are preparing for the “day after Roe” by working on abortion regulations and prohibitions right now.
To read original interview, click here.
Planned Parenthood, which is given millions of US taxpayer money while retaining its non-profit status with the IRS, is using our money to bring this abomination to every nation in the world!
Tracy it is good that you pointed that out. Planned Evilhood may be non profit but if we look up their ladder, they make a lot of money and many are employed there. Its sick that even medical students volunteer there too. Those earning high wages in Planned Parenthood know that they are powerful all due to abortions. They need abortions to stay open. It is an abomination. I agree with you.
Abeca,
What is even worse is that many of those student volunteers come from Universities that used to be Catholic and are now only Catholic in name only!
May God have mercy on an amoral Amerika!
Viva Cristo Rey!
God bless, yours in Their Hearts
Kenneth M. Fisher, Founding Director
Concerned Roman Catholics of America, Inc.
That is what still causes me to feel disturbed Mr. Fisher….Catholic Students….even someone from my own family too was encouraged to do volunteer hours there for their medical degree….
Once they volunteer there….many are bought to their ideologies. They tell them how to think…..just because someone has a degree, does not mean that they can reason well….. I always wonder what certain sins cause/lead people to be fooled by Planned Parenthood? But I have to keep in mind as well that there are also the ignorant.
Murder is murder no matter what the law states, it’s that simple!!
Makes you proud to be in the same league as China and North Kores. I did not know that Canada had followed their big neighbor’s slde into ignominy. This nation needs a collective soul-searching. A good start would be to stop electing pro-death politicians, and stop our bishops from supporting them. But, who am I to judge?
Anton, from what I read Canada is ahead of us in Euthanasia and “thought police” policies as well.
Anton,
In some evil areas, Canada has been in front of the US!
I had to decide whether or not to use ahead, leading, or in front of, neither one really does the situation justice.
May God have mercy on an amoral Amerika!
Viva Cristo Rey!
God bless, yours in Their Hearts
Kenneth M. Fisher, Founding Director
Concerned Roman Catholics of America, Inc.
Abortion is the easy way out for men…
If men do not want children, then they, the men, should not procreate…
The women just carry the children.
Jenny: Don’t let the women off the hook. It takes two to tango. Modern feminism has captured the imagination of many women, especially the younger ones. Abortion is their Holy Grail. To snuff out their unborn in the womb is the ultimate act of liberation to them. They are being brain-washed daily in their ivy league elite women’s colleges. These modern feminists are the ones who back the democratic party in huge numbers. “A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle” is their guiding philosophy. Who needs a man when the government takes care of you? Make no mistake, feminism is an evil heresy, and is directly tied to abortion rights.
When people have a choice in politicians – like in the USA, they get evil policies and evil laws.
Evil politicians at the Federal, State and Local levels appoint judges, administrators and others of like mind – all at taxpayer expense.
The USA , China, North Korea, and Canada are loaded with evil politicians and/or evil judges. Any country that kills their most innocent and most vulnerable children for the convenience of another is absolutely immoral and amoral. This means their governments cannot be trusted by anyone.
In the USA it is the fault of us voters.
Planned parenthood continues its targeted execution of colored peoples
Do you think, anyone now, that if America’s Catholics really opposed abortion, that there would be abortion on demand in the USA? Of course not. We have abortion “rights” because Catholics do not oppose them much. Good job, bishops; much more important to issue papers on increasing the minimum wage in CA and to pressure politicians to adopt immigration reform. Planned Parenthood wins because of its passion (and the knowledge that the Catholic Church really will not oppose them). And, what do you expect from a Church that embraces homosexuals as priests and does so little (except sell its donated real estate) to combat homosexual marriage. The bishops want all of this. Even Francis is purported to have said that too much “theology” and morality rules will drive people from the Church.
St. Christopher: You are exactly right. Our modern Catholics are as flavorful as dish water. Their bishops preach a good game about fighting poverty and global warming, and little to nothing about the grave moral issues like keeping our nations alive. The Western so-called Christian world in in a demographic death spiral. When was the last time you heard a sermon on the subject of birth control? Pope Paul’s encyclical on the subject has been effectively suppressed since the Winnipeg Conference that stuck a finger in the pope’s eye. The latest issue “du jour” in our diocese is “human trafficking”. What in God’s name do any of us have to do with that? Is that not a matter for the police?