Commentary: I'm a lifelong Republican. I do not support repeal of Roe v. Wade
June 3, 2022
The U.S. Supreme Court is about to make a grave mistake.
The current people arguing both for and against the repeal of Roe v. Wade in this country are likely not familiar with how we got to this point and it is so important when attempting to change a major law or statute that we know how we got there in the first place.
On April 6 of 1967, William Baird addressed group of people, mostly students at Boston University, pursuant to an invitation after which he gave a 19-year-old single woman a can of what was called Emko a foam contraceptive. He was later charged with felonies by the Commonwealth and through a long litany of convictions and appeals, the conviction was overturned by the SJC and Sheriff Eisenstadt of Suffolk County appealed that decision.
Ultimately, the U. S. Supreme Court in a 6–1 decision upheld both Baird's standing to appeal and the First Circuit's decision on the basis of the Equal Protection Clause.
Before Eisenstadt, we had another landmark case in 1965 called Connecticut v. Griswold
The Executive Director of Planned Parenthood, and its medical director, a licensed physician, were convicted as accessories for giving married persons information and medical advice on how to prevent conception. Being arrested for telling people how not to have a baby, can you imagine the hue and cry that would bring in today’s Facebook world? The U.S. Supreme court held that the U.S. Constitution protects "marital privacy" as a fundamental constitutional right and this provided another valuable right to people not only Connecticut but in the whole country.
What does this all mean?....
Well, in 1973 we were granted a landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States protects a pregnant woman's liberty to choose to have an abortion without excessive government restriction.
At that point, women who chose to have abortions were not subjected to the dangers and tragedies of the backroom procedures going on throughout the country leaving many women to bleed to death or become sick and die due to poor sanitary conditions. Women earned the right to choose as they should still today.
I am a lifelong registered Republican; something not very popular today. I depart though from their conservative doctrine as sensible people should when it comes to repealing Roe v. Wade. The ultra conservatives who push this fail to acknowledge our Constitution which protects a woman’s right to choose and it will be a tragedy if Roe is repealed. People need to make this a legislative priority with their lawmakers please.
T. Stephen McCarthy has been a Portsmouth resident since 1963.
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Commentary: A lifelong Republican, I do not support Roe v. Wade repeal
