The Supreme Court Vacancy & the Pro-Life Cause

It’s worth noting here that if Roe v. Wade is overturned, the most likely event is that the issue returns to the states—where most states would not, barring serious political changes, ban the practice. Maybe 10 or 15 states, but really, those are states where the practice is already pretty limited.

There are two things that are far more likely, though. First, about half of states would impose severe restrictions on the practice, and about the same portion would end funding of abortion clinics—including so-called “non-abortion” funding. In these states, abortion would basically end outside big cities and a few D1 college towns.

Second, and probably more importantly, a lot of the other society-changing decisions—e.g. Lawrence v. Texas (which banned laws against homosexual conduct) and Obergefell vs. Hodges (which required states to issue homosexual marriage licenses)—depend on Roe for their support with its presumption of the right to privacy. Without Roe, those cases would likely be re-litigated and perhaps overturned as well. These decisions, in turn, are key in liberal attempts to limit religious freedoms.

So a lot more depends on Roe than just abortion, things that the far left of the Democratic Party holds quite dear.