Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, a challenge to a New Hampshire law that prohibits doctors from performing an abortion on a minor until 48 hours after a parent has been notified is heard. Source: The Case for Polarized Politics, by Jeff Bell, p.154-5Īuthored ruling restricting parental notification laws It also makes clear that moral relativism and open-ended human freedom MUST become far and away the highest political good. These three clearly saw themselves as reasonableĬentrists, underlining the transformation of the global left after the 1960s from a mainly economic to a mainly social movement. The opinion was particularly galling because it was composed by 3 Republican justices-Sandra Day O'Connor, Anthony Kennedy, and David Souter-who had now provided the decisive swing votes to uphold Roe. Legal and social conservatives soon came to refer to these words as the 'Mystery Passage.' Planned Parenthood v Casey, the Supreme Court's 5-4 decision in June 1992 upholding the right to abortion : 'At the heart of liberty is the right to define one's own concept of existence, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life.' From theįounders' belief in 'created equal', this language travels to the furthest opposite pole of individual self-definition, verging on self-creation.

Liberty to define one's own concept of mystery of human life Source: The Case for Polarized Politics, by Jeff Bell, p.156 Of these three self-perceived moderate justices, the biggest error in the first two decades after 'Roe' was the decision by the anti-abortion side of the national debate to continue speaking out and fighting the issue. With these words, it became clear that, in the view

It is the dimension present whenever the Court's interpretation of theĬonstitution calls the contending sides of a national controversy to end their national division by accepting a common mandate rooted in the Constitution.' Has a dimension that the resolution of the normal case does not carry. The 'Casey' plurality stated: 'Where, in the performance of its judicial duties, the Court decides a case in such a way as to resolve the story of intensely divisive controversy reflected in 'Roe' and those rare comparable cases, its decision Roe ruling definitively resolved abortion issue

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