Gonzales v. Carhart

In the shadow of the overwhelming media coverage of the tragedy at Virginia Tech, the Supreme Court passed a 5-4 ruling upholding the law banning partial birth abortions passed by congress in 2003. While I agree that this is a very inhumane procedure, this ruling has the strong possibility to lead to a full reversal of Roe v. Wade, making all abortions illegal once again. I personally would never choose to have an abortion and I think it should be the absolute last option pursued, but I also believe that my own moral groundings should not govern the personal health rights of other women. This new ruling makes partial birth abortion illegal in all cases, regardless of the woman’s health. It used to be legal if the woman’s life was in danger but this is no longer the case. A woman’s only defense now is the judicial system which is lengthy and expensive and utterly useless due to time constraints in health issues. This is not a fair statute and I can only hope that the crusade against abortion stops here and won’t continue to erode the reproductive rights of women, not to mention personal health.