NYT, pg1: In (Alito's) Abortion Rulings, Idea of Marriage Is Pivotal

[DeepModem Mom]

NOTE: The headline I've used in the subject line is the headline that appears in the print edition, which is different from the current online headline.


Decisions Offer Clues to Court Pick's View of Divisive Issues
By ADAM LIPTAK
Published: November 2, 2005

One distinct theme emerges from an examination of 15 cases decided by Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. involving abortion: his thinking is shaped by a traditional concept of marriage.

His most famous abortion opinion, a 1991 dissent in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, would have upheld a Pennsylvania law that required women seeking abortions to notify their husbands. "Pennsylvania has a legitimate interest in furthering the husband's interest in the fate of the fetus," Judge Alito wrote. The United States Supreme Court rejected his position the next year.

In a series of less noticed cases concerning asylum requests based on claims of forced abortions abroad, Judge Alito ruled that marital status could be the determining factor.

Last year, he ruled that the husbands of women forced to undergo abortions in China had themselves suffered persecution serious enough to warrant granting the men asylum in the United States. But he rejected similar claims from boyfriends or fiancés of women who had been forced to have abortions.

The categorical distinction was warranted, he wrote, because marriage was a central organizing principle in the law. "The marriage relation," he wrote, is important in "so many areas," including "income tax, welfare benefits, property, inheritance, testimonial privilege, etc."...

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/02/politics/02abortion.html

[joeybee12]

1. No, the central theme is Alito believes people have NO right to privacy!

That's the foundation of Roe v Wade...that the constitution guarantees the right to privacy. His dissent in Casey clearly shows he will overturn Roe...because you can't get ANY MORE PRIVATE than the relationship between man and wife. If you don't believe these two people don't have a right to privacy, then NO ONE does. It's very clear from his dissent he WILL overturn Roe. No question whatsoever...