#465 The Price of Roe, Dorothy Day June 14, 2019
Announcing a New Project: The Price of Roe This website is focused on reaching peace and justice advocates who favor Roe v. Wade only because they’re on the “side” that does. They need to be more acquainted with how Roe has
sabotaged peace and justice goals; and
had problems from a peace and justice perspective at its core.
The home page has quotations from people who favor legal abortion and yet argue the court decision has done horrific damage to other peace and justice goals (see Quotation of the Week below). The title was inspired by Christopher Jon Sprigman: “The left has Roe (for now). But it secured that victory at a terrible price . . . The price of Roe is all the progressive change we gave up when Roe helped push the center of American politics to the right.” We object to how he sees the left/right divide, but otherwise, we’ve been making this point for years.
Expounding on the Price of Roe Pages giving examples of changes we’ve given up: Missed Change: Elections Pro-Roe sentiment has been harmful to candidates. Missed Change: Stopping Discrimination against Females Sex-selection abortions are responsible for about half of the millions of “missing” females world-wide. Missed Change: Stopping Discrimination against People with Disabilities Positive portrayals of prenatally “terminating” those with disabilities has a negative impact on the disability rights; disabled pregnant women face greater discrimination. Pages giving examples of problems with Roe: Problems with Roe: The Plaintiffs of Roe & Doe Both of the plaintiffs were women who in the end opposed the decisions named for them, and felt exploited. Problems with Roe: Eugenics Roe’s author, Harold Blackmun, showed a pro-eugenic bias. Problems with Roe: Legal Scholarship Several legal scholars, though they approve of abortion being legal, explain the shoddy reasoning.
How to Make Best Use of the Price of Roe Website Election season is intensifying. People are more conscious of which “side” they’re on than usual. This is a prime opportunity to get across how badly Roe has sabotaged peace work. For your pro-Roe friends, send them the link. Get it on every suitable social media outlet, and otherwise publicize. For your already anti-Roe friends, let them know of this resource so they can publicize it and learn good connected-issues arguments from it. For groups, we appreciate mention in newsletters and links on websites, Facebook pages, Twitter, etc. Finally, if you come across good quotations that should be added, let us know at weekly@consistent-life.org.
Latest CLN Blog Post: Dorothy Day Dorothy Day was someone who followed the consistent life ethic before the term was even coined. When we put out cards with our consistent-life heroes, she’s easily one of the most popular ones, and that’s in all different kinds of audiences. Rob Arner offers: Dorothy Day and the Consistent Life Ethic: Rejecting Conventional Political Paradigms.
Quotation of the Week Michael Kinsley The Right’s Kind of Activism, Washington Post, November 14, 2004 Editor’s note: This is another of our quotations from someone who isn’t consistent-life, but makes our point all the more effectively by seeing it from a different perspective. Although I am pro-choice, I was taught in law school, and still believe, that Roe v. Wade is a muddle of bad reasoning and an authentic example of judicial overreaching. I also believe it was a political disaster for liberals. Roe is what first politicized religious conservatives while cutting off a political process that was legalizing abortion state by state anyway. Three decades later, that awakened giant controls the government.
Responses/News Tips/Questions to share are all welcome.
Send to weekly@consistent-life.org.
