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Whose heart needs to change to make progress in defending life?
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On the American Magazine blog today, Michael Sean Winters has strong words for Deal Hudson and and Jack Smith (of the Catholic Key, the paper of the Archidocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph). You can read the entry at http://www.americamagazine.org/blog/entry.cfm?blog_id=2&id=12256868-3048-741E-4518223630185722 He claims that they are being deliberately deceitful on health care reform and the Hyde Amendment. I disagree.
I actually think they believe what they are saying, as it confirms their biases, and that they are sadly misinformed about the facts of these issues. They believe they are being obedient to the Church by not educating themselves and by not speaking reasonably. I would like to think that those in the pro-life camp are not deliberately selling snake oil by insisting on the overturn of Roe when they know it is not possible. That would make them evil, rather than misinformed, since the only reason to do so is to take the money of people who don't know better and to rally votes for the Republican cause in the name of an issue that will never be resolved. I don't believe they are evil.
Roe will never be overturned judicially - not because of the hearts of the people but because it should not be. It can be overturned legislatively, since Congress has the inherent and explicit powers to say who and who does not have legal protection as a person (under the enforcement powers of the 14th Amendment). Because this power is reserved to Congress and not the states, overturning Roe judicially and going back to 1972 is a pipe dream, although this dream plays into the Republican states rights meme very well so it is hard to eradicate. Until it is eradicated, the pro-life movement will remain in fantasy land and innocent life will continue to be taken. The other thing keeping abortion mills going is the link between the pro-life movement and economic conservativism. As long as this continues, poor women and the families of teenage daughters will resort to abortion - regardless of its legality. Like the problem of illegal immigration, this problem persists largely due to conflicting desires in authoritarian conservatism itself, which is stubborn and unwillilng to face new facts. It is not the hearts of the American people at large which must change, but those who insist on solutions that will not work.
Let me add one more thing on this issue of abortion, judges and the Administration. Much energy went into campaigning against Obama because of the Justices he would appoint. Yet, when given the chance, he appointed a Catholic who was not "pro-abortion no matter what" when she ruled on the Court of Appeals to allow the Mexico City policy to go forward. A pro-abortion idealogue would not have ruled that way. I suspect she falls in the Roberts, Alito, Kennedy zone on this issue, meaning that if Congress acted to restrict abortion in the second and third trimesters under their power under the 14th Amendment (which would partially overturn Roe), these four would likely affirm such an act. Such an act, by the way, was hinted at by Obama in the third debate (at least for the third trimester). Both of these facts point to the biased and muddled thinking of those who reflexively oppose this President. They should try working with him a bit more closely instead of villifying him.
