Who defines the terms?

From the New York Sun, linked to from other sites under the headline "Fred Thompson backed abortion in 1994"...

* Under abortion: He checked the box for: "Abortions should be legal in all circumstances as long as the procedure is completed within the first trimester of the pregnancy." He did, however, support a number of restrictions on abortion: requiring parental notification, allowing states to impose waiting periods, and eliminating all federal funding of abortion. Lastly, he said Congress should leave legislation on abortion to the states.

Interesting that abortion sides are drawn based on all or nothing. As the law stands, abortion is allowed at any time, for any reason, for virtually anyone. Apparently one could oppose 90% of the current legal status of abortion and still be considered "pro-choice" not that those views would actually be taken into consideration when determining the law. The "law" was determined by 7 Supreme Court Justices, so regardless what position anyone else has, the oligarchy of the SCOTUS dictated it to us and we've been stuck with it.

Pro-death advocates use any ambiguity in anyone's position on abortion to claim they are "on their side" when the truth is "their side" is supported by a miniscule fraction of the nation.

The question is not whether or not Thompson is ambiguous enough in his opinion to be exploited by pro-death statisticians, but whether he's got the cojones to to stand up to Liberals in the Senate in nominating Supreme Court justices that adhere to the original intent of the Constitution, rather than treating it as a blank sheet to write on what they whim.

By the way, the common term for "Congress should leave legislation on abortion to the states" is known as "overturning Roe".

Posted by Danny Carlton at May 9, 2007 7:05 AM