Based on Alito’s opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson, any personal right that was not enumerated in 1866 when the 14th Amendment was written is not protected. Alito implied
his reasoning applied only to abortion. But in his concurrence, Justice Thomas pointed out that the Dobbs precedent would apply to other practices, including same-sex marriage and contraception, birth control pills.
In Dobbs, reactionary Catholics on the Supreme Court applied Catholic theology to American law, effectively breaching the separation of church and state. Justice Sotomayor, also raised Catholic, wrote in her dissent that the practical result of Dobbs was that the state could force women to bear children against their will, like livestock, depriving them of their bodily autonomy. And if the state could do that, it could, under Alito’s reasoning, deprive them of any personal right that was not recognized in 1866, including the right to marry someone of another race, which was illegal in 1866 in 18 states and was not overturned until 1967, 20 years before Clarence Thomas married his wife Ginni.
There is a rather straightforward solution to this: Congress should increase the number of justices on the court to 13 and overturn Dobbs for the misogynistic assault on women that it is.
Chip Northrup, Cooperstown
We’re going to need more prisons
The Gilbane Company, Turner Construction, and Correction Corporation of America may not be on your personal radar, but they will be after June 2022. How come, you ask? I’ll tell you. With the Supreme Court denial of the right to abortion procedures, many states will immediately activate criminal charges against any persons engaging in any activity that contributes to an abortion. Federal protection will no longer exist for a person’s right to choose. The states will control the criminal proceedings.
A letter was recently submitted stating that abortion is a constitutional right. Nowhere in the Constitution, nor any other founding document for that matter, is there given a right to murder. The Declaration of Independence states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Life is what the founders of our nation considered a constitutional right. And this right applies to an unborn baby in the womb.
I know that it took a while for those who wrote these documents to have their practice catch up with what they believed (as with slavery and women’s rights) but catch up they did. Today, minorities and women have more freedom in this nation than almost anywhere else. Is there still more to be done? Absolutely!
But back to the issue of abortion. The problem is this has become a political issue when it is, in fact, a moral one. Life begins at the moment of conception. Science now bears this out. And a baby in the womb needs the same protections as a bald eagle in the egg. We don’t need more abortions, we need more support for women who find themselves in a difficult situations. Let’s spend the millions of dollars on that and become a nation that holds life in high regard.
Justice Alito’s opinion is based on the fact that the right to abort is not mentioned in the Constitution. Guess what, no womens’ rights, either natural, such as the right to abort, or political, such as the right to vote, are mentioned in the Constitution. But every state that ratified the Constitution allowed a woman the right to abort — as a natural right.
Roe vs Wade was argued in Texas by Texas lawyers in front of Texas judges. When the Supremes upheld the Texas trial court, they not only tossed out Texas’s abortion law, but all state abortion laws as being unconstitutional for one profoundly simple reason: The Constitution does not prohibit abortion.
Rebecca Bonker holds up a ‘Trust Women’ sign at the women’s reproductive rights rally at Muller Plaza in Oneonta on Saturday, Oct. 2. (Kevin Limiti/AllOtsego.com).
ONEONTA — About 100 people gathered in Muller Plaza at a rally for women’s reproductive rights Saturday, Oct. 2.
The rally coincided with the Women’s March happening across the country as thousands marched in support of Roe v. Wade.
The event featured music and speakers as well as pizza and lemonade.
The looming issue throughout the rally was the harsh Texas anti-abortion laws barring abortions at six weeks and offering bounties to anyone who turns in a person who had an abortion or assisted with one.
Marti Swords-Horrell, a minister at the First United Methodist Church, said she has been a minister for 39 years and came out in support of reproductive health.
“We believe in social principles on every topic you could think of,” Swords-Horrell said on the stance of their church, stating that birth control and abortions “should be available to everyone no matter if you’re rich or poor.”
“It shouldn’t be dependent on anyone else,” Swords-Horrell said.
