Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Let The Eroding Begin

Don't be fooled by the unanimous nature of today's abortion ruling by the Supreme Court. Looked at practically, here is what I believe is a good prediction of what's to come:

Read most broadly, though, the opinion could be understood as laying down a new limit on lower court judges' authority to issue sweeping decisions that nullify new abortion laws, end to end. It quite clearly calls for a much more discrete, refined review of the ways in which a law might be enforced validly.

If, in fact, that is the way the decision is applied by lower courts in this and other cases, it could amount to a narrowing of abortion rights. That is because it would amount as a legal matter to less reliance upon an individual doctor's professional judgment in individual cases, especially when the abortion option is not considered in a truly emergency situation, but is only deemed medically advisable for a given patient.


Drip. Drip. Drip.

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