Thursday, September 27, 2018

Four consistent possibilities

1. Roe v. Wade was rightly decided, and abortion should be legal. 
2. Roe v. Wade was rightly decided, but abortion should not be legal. 
3. Roe v. Wade was wrongly decided, and abortion should be legal. 
4. Roe v. Wade was wrongly decided, and abortion should not be legal. 

2 and 3 are the surprising combinations. 2 is consistent because abortion can always be rendered illegal through a constitutional amendment. 3 is consistent because it is possible that abortion can be defended for other reasons than that offered by Roe. But everyone assumes that 1 and 4 are the only options. 

2 comments:

bmiller said...

There is a 5th possibility. The court could have refused to hear the case.

It's called the 10th amendment:
"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.[5]"

One Brow said...

I think that's covered under "wrongly decided".