The Right To An Abortion

NEWS FLASH: Abortion is legal in the United States.  Has been since January 22, 1973 when the Supreme Court in a 7-2 ruling in the Roe vs. Wade case decided in favor of a woman's right to choose to have an abortion if she felt she needed one. That should have been the end of the story. Those who didn't need an abortion or felt having one was against their principles could check the box, "no abortion", birth the babies and be on their way. The woman who, for whatever reason, felt she needed to have an abortion could choose that route. It was deemed a woman's private decision based on the due process clause of the 14th. amendment of the Constitution. Just a bit about the 14th. amendment: It was adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the "Reconstruction Amendments" proposed in response to issues related to former slaves, following the Civil War. The amendment was very controversial, particularly with the Southern states, obviously not in favor of giving any rights to former slaves, but was ratified even by the south in order for them to regain representation in Congress.  Within the amendment are several clauses, one of which is the "Due Process Clause". It prohibits state and local government officials from depriving persons of life, liberty, or property without legislative authorization. This is the clause that formed the backbone of the successful argument of the Roe v. Wade case. Planned Parenthood has been a woman's health organization that has provided an array of services, including abortion. Because of its offering these legal services, it has been demonized by the anti-abortion forces, ironically called "pro-life", as the devil incarnate. Planned Parenthood offices have been bombed, looted, vandalized, attacked; their doctors have been terrorized with death threats and some have died. All in the service of providing legal health services to women. The "righteous"soldiers who claim they are following God's marching orders to protect the right of the unborn, have become more than nuisances, they have practiced domestic terrorism and aim to take this right away from women through intimidation and misinformation. Their latest act is the hacking of Planned Parenthood's  email system and video-taping Planned Parenthood's clinics, entrapment through the establishment of bogus fetal tissue dispensary clinics and an array of other antics of brimstone buffoonery and bluster. They have captured the headlines with their unsavory methods and aim to keep chipping away at a woman's right to choose until she has no right to choose. Even though it is the law of the land. Oh, by the way, a woman has a right to donate tissue that comes out of her body to research, be it fetal tissue or tissue from an appendectomy. It belongs to her and she can give it away.