FROM SFLA NEWS

The 1973 Abortion Loophole that Opens the Door to ALL Abortion – Any Time, Any Place, Any Age – and It’s Back in the News

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Kristi Hamrick - 16 Feb 2024

Most people familiar with the abortion’s legal history know that in 1973 the Roe v. Wade 7-2 decision created a “right” to abortion. But it didn’t stop there. A companion case, Doe v. Bolton, opened the door for abortion so wide that it allowed for abortion through all nine months, for any reason at all, and sometimes with taxpayer funding.

This might seem like ancient history since Roe v. Wade is no more, but it seems like you can’t teach the old dogs of abortion new tricks, as the findings in Doe are making a comeback today in headlines across the country.

In Doe, the justices decided without evidence that a mother’s “health” was reason enough for any abortion. That was not about the LIFE of the mother, as there could be many factors. It was about turning the definition of “health” into a category so broad, no abortion would be denied.

As attorney, author, and Roe expert Clarke Forsythe wrote in USA Today: “The court said abortion could be limited by the states after viability unless ‘health’ is at issue, defining ‘health’ as emotional well-being, an exception that swallows the ability of the states to limit abortion after fetal viability (the point at which an unborn baby can live outside the womb), a fact documented by numerous legal scholars and in multiple court decisions.”

That health exception was a real killer of pro-life laws. As Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe wrote in 1973: “In Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton (the court) impos(ed) limits on permissible abortion legislation so severe that no abortion law in the United States remained valid.”

That’s what Planned Parenthood and the abortion lobby wants to do today – with NEW pushes to say that pro-life laws need “mental health” exceptions. And with history to go by, you can be sure that those selling abortion will rubber stamp that mental health box every time.

A recent AP headline says it all: Mental health emerges as a dividing line in abortion rights initiatives planned for state ballots. Abortion zealots are going state by state to convince legislators to add that “little” exception, maybe counting on the fact that too few understand what is at stake.

The abortion lobby wants states to say that abortions will be allowed if someone will certify that a mother’s mental health is being impacted by pregnancy, a bar so low, every abortionist can walk over it as they determine that pregnancy can be stressful.

In fact, as a mother of four, I can say firsthand that every mother will be impacted by pregnancy … every person will experience gravity … and every child deserves a chance at life.

As Forsythe noted, with the mental health loophole in place before Roe fell “(f)he reality (was) that it (was) legal to have an abortion through all nine months of pregnancy, even though not all abortion clinics do such gruesome procedures.”

We can’t let history repeat itself with new exceptions for abortion that will return us to the old tyranny of Roe and Doe – and unlimited abortion.

READ NEXT: If Everyone Knew What Roe v. Wade Actually Does… We Can Reverse It

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