Abortion, Illegal or Not?

After extensive hours of contemplation about what to write in a religious blogger, I finally decided on discussing a current event because, considering I’m not remotely religious, I felt it would definitely be the easier way out. Anyways, throughout the vast media coverage in conjunction with my legal studies class this semester, I have become quite familiar with the controversy over the new justice to the Supreme Court. The United States Supreme Court is comprised of 9 justices and, before the commission of the new justice, it was split with 4 of the justices being democratic, 4 republican and the 9th acting as the “swing” vote. This provides for a nice blend of beliefs and opinions, ensuring that one party doesn’t dominate the entire group. When any of the justices die or retire, the President appoints someone to fill the vacant seat. Considering the term given to justices of the Supreme Court is life, whenever the time comes to appoint a new one, it’s always a pretty big deal. In the case occurring right now, its even a bigger deal because the justice to be replaced, Sandra Day O’ Connor, was the “swing” vote and the man nominated by President Bush to appoint her is Republican. This means, of course, that the balance between parties is going to be thrown off, making the official count 5 Republicans to 5 Democrats. At first, when I knew very little about the issue, I just couldn’t grasp the concept surrounding the matter and saw no reason why the world seemed to be in a frenzy about this. But after becoming more educated on the topic, I realized what the hype was all about and understood that implications of this decision were pretty huge.

The most prominent affect the appointment of this new judge has, is the possibility to overturn the Roe V. Wade case making abortion illegal—this is where the religious stuff comes into play. Now, I don’t know a ton about religion, but I do know that this decision would most likely make Catholics happy, considering they generally are pro-life. On the other hand, though, this decision will wreak havoc upon the vast majority of women in addition to the million people in the US who are pro-choice. Ever since I can remember, its simply been a given to me that if a bad situation were to occur involving, whether it be to me or to friends and family, that there is always that reassurance of an abortion. To have that right stripped of you, and to actually think for a second that that there is no longer that choice, is an extremely scary and serious thought.

This is my attempt to at being “religious”….