The Supreme Court`s recent decision in Casey v. Pennsylvania, upholding the state`s regulations on abortion, was bitterly lamented by groups both favoring and opposing abortion rights. Though it didn`t satisfy those at either end of the political spectrum, it did gratify those in the middle, by restoring to democratic bodies some authority over the issue.
What remains to be seen is what action, if any, lawmakers will take. The recent experience of Congress suggests that the deep ambivalence that colors most Americans` feelings about abortion may also prevail in our legislative institutions.
Abortion-rights groups saw the Casey ruling as a disastrous assault on women`s rights and vowed to reverse it on Capitol Hill with a sweeping
”Freedom of Choice Act,” which would preclude almost all restrictions on the right to abortion-including some permitted by the court even before this decision.
These groups received the enthusiastic support of Democratic presidential nominee Bill Clinton and his running mate, Al Gore, as well as the party leadership in both houses of Congress. A vote was planned shortly before the Republican convention in the hope of embarrassing President Bush, dividing the GOP and turning the issue into a powerful Democratic weapon in the fall campaign.
But between June and August, something unexpected happened: Moderation asserted itself. Given time to consider the issue, most members decided that such rules as a 24-hour waiting period and an informed-consent requirement didn`t sound so bad after all.
Faced with the prospect that Congress would vote to effectively codify the Casey decision in law instead of reverse it, the sponsors have elected to withdraw the bill for now. Rep. Don Edwards, a California Democrat, promises gamely to bring it back up ”a few weeks after Clinton is elected.”
But even if the next president supports the bill, its passage isn`t assured-not as long as members of Congress are listening to their
constituents, who generally favor the kind of limits permitted by the court. As has been said, most Americans think abortion should be safe, legal and rare. They want it to be available as a last resort, but not as a first. They think women should be allowed to end their pregnancies-after they have given the matter the serious deliberation warranted when incipient human life is involved.
In the two decades since the Supreme Court`s landmark Roe v. Wade decision, public opinion has not been allowed much say over abortion. Now that the situation has changed somewhat, it`s good to see Congress is listening.
