Choice of case forever changed abortion debate

[proud2BlibKansan]

By ELLEN GOODMAN
Boston Globe

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We forget sometimes that the GOP was not always like this. Not that long ago, we had pro-choicers such as Barry Goldwater. Or Ronald Reagan, Act One. Or Barbara Bush and her husband, George H.W. Bush, who was pro-choice before he was pro-victory.

This purge has led me to wonder what would have happened if the first abortion case to arrive at the Supreme Court were not Roe v. Wade. What if it had been Susan Struck v. Secretary of Defense? What if it had been brought by the woman who did not want an abortion?

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How different the whole debate might have been if the first Supreme Court case arguing for the right to decide had been brought by a woman wanting to have a baby. Would we have better understood that government that can force a woman to have an abortion also can force a woman to continue the pregnancy?

When the argument over the next justice comes, when you hear about Jane Roe, think of Susan Struck. When “pro-choice conservative” sounds like an oxymoron, remember the words of “Mr. Conservative,” Barry Goldwater:

“A lot of so-called conservatives today don’t know what the word means. They think I’ve turned liberal because I believe a woman has a right to an abortion. That’s a decision that’s up to the pregnant woman, not up to the pope or some do-gooders on the religious right. It’s not a conservative issue at all.”

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