Overplaying The Anti-Abortion Hand

Giddy with the ascension of Roberts and Alito to the Supreme Court, and the deparure of Justice "undue burden" O'Connor, South Dakota is on the brink of giving abortion rights supporters a huge boost. The South Dakota legislature has passed, and the South Dakota governor appears prepared to sign a law that would make it a felony to perform an abortion even in cases of rape and incest. The only exception, apparently, is for abortions that are necessary to save the life of the mother. However, even that exception may well be more apparent than real, since a doctor facing a felony conviction for being wrong could well be excused for taking a very cautious view on when a mother's life is in danger.

The goal of the law, of course, is to give the Supreme Court no alternative but to directly confront Roe v. Wade. Yet, it is almost inconcieveable that, when push comes to shove, a majortiy of the Supreme Court will vote to uphold such a law. The result, I suspect, will be a reaffirmation of the basic principle that underlies the 1973 decision: that there are limits on what the states can criminalize in this area.

Bears make money, bulls make money, pigs get slaughtered.