Living in the World
The god of Choice, Part 3

Over the years many arguments have been posited to support abortion. But, how can they stand the test of morality when a fully developed baby is dismembered or has his brains sucked out to end his life? There seems no restraint on the right to choose an abortion. And, for good reason…if we have the unfettered ability to create our own rights and society cannot morally restrain any such conduct, anything goes. Jeffrey Hart, Professor emeritus of English at Dartmouth, in a controversial article about conservatism, believes the abortion is now part of the fabric of America:

Roe relocated decision-making about abortion from state governments to the individual woman and was thus a libertarian, not liberal ruling. Planned Parenthood v. Casey supported Roe, but gave it social dimension, making the woman’s choice a derivative of the woman’s revolution. This has been the result of many accumulating social facts, and its results already have been largely assimilated. Roe reflected, and reflects, a relentlessly changing social actuality.[1]

Note that Dr. Hart believes that the individual, personal choice for a woman to have an abortion is a social fact that has been assimilated into our culture. We are a pro-choice people as a result of social progress. And, while the USSC may have engaged in judicial activism, they are reflecting the social trends.

While Dr. Hart is offering a political analysis, it is not entirely accurate. Roe was an exercise of raw judicial power in saying that the “right of privacy” yields the right to abortion on demand. It surely was not the will of the people and part of the social fabric of 1973. Is it now? If you watched Judge Alito’s confirmation hearings you saw the angst of pro-abortion folks. They know that abortion is not a social given. It is a product of an imperial judiciary that had been more and more brought under scrutiny. And the idea that abortion is a result of a revolution that will not be turned back is, well, fragile prophecy. In the 1970s did anyone see the Communist Revolution collapsing? No, but it still happened.

Since 1973, there has been an increasing uneasiness with abortion. The revolting nature of PBA and the cold calculation of pro-abortion folks to not give an inch in their “right to abortion” has caused many to reassess the issue of abortion on demand. For over thirty years now the philosophy of abortion has been constantly questioned in the marketplace of ideas. Furthermore, political power, judicial, legislative, executive or populist, can shape society but cannot determine morality. Abortion because of right and choice cannot be justified from a moral standpoint no matter what the USSC says. Abortion is the icon of a philosophy that enthrones choice as god. And whether or not Roe is eventually overturned, that philosophy will remain until it is replaced by an ethical system based on the transcendent morality of the real God. Unless or until that happens, America will continue to worship the god of choice.

[1] WSJ Opinion Journal, December 27, 2005 (www.opinonjournal.com)