It turns out that Supreme Court nominee Alito wrote in 1985 that he wanted
Roe v. Wade to be overturned as being reported by the Associated Press:
WASHINGTON – Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito wrote in a June 1985 memo
that the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling legalizing abortion should be
overturned.In a recommendation to the solicitor general on filing a friend-of-court
brief, Alito said that the government “should make clear that we disagree
with Roe v. Wade and would welcome the opportunity to brief the issue of
whether, and if so to what extent, that decision should be overruled.”The June 3, 1985 document was one of 45 released by the National Archives
on Friday. A total of 744 pages were made public.
Article continues
here.
This should add a nice obstacle for his confirmation hearings considering the
Republican chairman of the Judicial Committee is one of the very few pro-choice
Republicans in Congress.
My views on Roe are actually somewhat different. Don’t get me wrong, I
strongly believe in a woman’s right to choose. I just think of what will happen
if Roe does get overturned.
First off we will see numerous states, mainly blue states, pass legislation
allowing abortion in one for or another. What it will do is put the decision to
allow it back on the state level. Overturning Roe does not outlaw abortion as
many think.
Overturning Roe will provide a great asset to the Democrats. One of the
strongest bases of support for the Republicans has been the abortion issue. If
abortion is no longer an issue it will push mode moderate Republicans and
independents to support the Democratic party. Remember a key ingredient to the
Roe argument comes from religious arguments/support.
Another key push for the Democrats will come from demographics. Generally the
18-30 age group is the lowest turn out in the polls. This is also the largest
demographic to be affected by the overturning of Roe. An overturn of Roe would
most likely lead to a push for more younger people to take time out of their
“busy” schedules and spend a few minutes every year to vote. That is a key age
group for the Democrats and will ultimately lead to far greater support.
So if Roe is overturned it may appear at first as a major blow to the
Democrats but in the terms of political pull it will in fact deal a major blow
to the Republicans. At that point, they will have to find a new argument to try
and win voters over with. True that in itself could be scary. What would be
next, getting rid of the separation of church and state? I doubt that
argument would carry the support that Roe has over the past 30 years.