By Sam Kastensmidt

Thirty-one years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court issued the most controversial ruling in American history — Roe v. Wade. With one swing of the gavel, America’s judiciary overturned state laws that had previously protected unborn children. On September 15, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a challenge seeking to overturn the Roe v. Wade decision. Ironically, the plaintiff in this case is Norma McCorvey, who also served as the plaintiff (Roe) in the 1973 landmark case.

Judge Admits the Error of Roe

Though the three-judge panel issued a unanimous decision to reject the lawsuit, because it failed to introduce a “live case or controversy,” Judge Edith Jones issued a concurring opinion that sheds some judicial perspective on the history of Roe v. Wade.

Calling the decision an “exercise of raw judicial power,” Judge Jones admits that the courts are blinded by radical ideology. “The perverse result of the Court’s having determined through constitutional adjudication this fundamental social policy, which affects over a million women and unborn babies each year, is that the facts no longer matter. This is a peculiar outcome for a Court so committed to ‘life’ that it struggles with the particular facts of dozens of death penalty cases each year.”

Courts Ignore the Advancements of Science

Jones explained that the court’s decision was crafted in ignorance of medical facts and the knowledge afforded by today’s technology. She wrote, “If courts were to delve into the facts underlying Roe’s balancing scheme with present-day knowledge, they might conclude that the woman’s choice is far more risky and less beneficial, and the child’s sentience [consciousness] far more advanced, than the Roe Court knew.”

“That the Court’s constitutional decision-making leaves our nation in a position of willful blindness to evolving knowledge should trouble any dispassionate observer not only about the abortion decisions,” she added, “but about a number of other areas in which the Court unhesitatingly steps into the realm of social policy under the guise of constitutional adjudication.”

Take Action!

Contact your elected leaders and encourage them to appoint and confirm judges with a healthy respect for the sanctity of life.

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Source List:

“Judge Blasts Supreme Court Over Roe,” WorldNetDaily, September 17, 2004.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=40490