Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Different Takes: Stronger Ruling Than Roe V. Wade Could Save Abortion; Permissive Abortion Laws Must Go
Chicago Tribune: Attacking Roe V. Wade Means Going Through Planned Parenthood V. Casey, Too
Roe v. Wade is doomed. So says Washington's latest conventional wisdom. Given the likelihood that President Donald Trump will complete the most conservative Supreme Court majority in generations with his choice to succeed retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy, the forecast makes sense. But conventional wisdom is so frequently wrong (remember Election Day 2016?) that every eruption is worth a second look. As usual, there's plenty to see. (David Von Drehle, 7/4)
The Washington Post: Let Roe Go
How can someone who calls herself pro-choice oppose Roe v. Wade? Let me count the ways. The decision itself is a poorly reasoned mess. It failed to mount a convincing case that the Constitution contains language that can be read as guaranteeing a woman’s right to abort her pregnancy. Nor have the subsequent courts that amended and extended Roe managed to come up with a constitutional justification; it’s all “emanations and penumbras” and similarly float-y language that did little to convince opponents that Roe v. Wade was a good or necessary ruling. Even many liberal supporters of a constitutional right to abortion have voiced concerns about the way the Burger Court got us there; those critics include Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. (Megan McArdle, 7/3)
The New York Times: Senators Collins And Murkowski: It’s Time To Leave The G.O.P.
Just hours after Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement, media legal analysts and commentators began forecasting what this will mean for women’s reproductive freedom. On CNN: “Roe v. Wade is doomed.” Huffington Post: “It’s time to prepare for life without nationwide legal abortion.” Reuters: “a death knell for Roe v. Wade.” Or, as one commenter remarked, invoking Dylan, “looks like it’s all over now, baby blue.” I share the despair, but have we forgotten something? Republicans have a one-vote majority in the Senate. Their number includes two female moderates, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, both of whom support abortion rights, and one of whom — Ms. Collins — has already declared this week that she would not support a candidate hostile to Roe v. Wade. (Susan Faludi, 7/5)
The Washington Post: Amy Coney Barrett Would Pose A Clear And Present Danger To Abortion Rights
No Supreme Court nominee is a completely safe bet. No one — not even the nominee himself or herself — knows for certain how he or she would rule on a particular case until the moment arises. When the Supreme Court explicitly weighed overturning Roe v. Wade and eliminating constitutional protection for abortion rights in 1992, for instance, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy provided the fifth vote to prevent that outcome. But Kennedy’s vote in an abortion case three years earlier made that position surprising — including, perhaps, to the justice himself. And yet: Of all the potential Supreme Court nominees that President Trump is considering, the one who seems most inclined to undo Kennedy’s work and overturn Roe as completely and quickly as possible is Amy Coney Barrett, a 46-year-old newly minted (last November) federal appeals court judge. (Ruth Marcus, 7/4)
The Washington Post: Calm Down. Roe V. Wade Isn’t Going Anywhere.
If Chicken Little and Cassandra had a baby, they’d name him Jeffrey Toobin. Anyone watching CNN lately has probably heard Toobin’s prediction that if a conservative fills the Supreme Court seat left vacant by departing Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, abortion is dead.No more reproductive choice; no more equal protection for the LGBTQ community; no more fun for anybody, except Jesus and his acolytes. The effect has been an unloosing of hysteria upon the land. Democrats began tearing their garments and gnashing their teeth as they foresaw 24/7 Christian broadcasting and Charlton Heston reruns. Republicans, always sore winners, fired their guns in the air, swatted Hillary Clinton piñatas and — I’m not sure this part is true — square-danced till way past dark. (Kathleen Parker, 7/3)
