Eric at Classical Values is discussing Clayton Cramers's piece on the prevalence of abortion before Roe. His conclusion about abortion is that it may actually be happening at a lower rate since Roe.
Clayton's most important point is his conclusion.
If you have to arrest and try your own citizens for a crime on a massive scale (as would be necessary to enforce a general ban on abortion), it is usually a bad indicator for the moral health of your society.
I wonder when we are going to apply this kind of thinking to drug prohibition? I look forward to a return of American morality.
Update:
David Hecht made this comment at Classical values:
"If we can't stop abortion when it's legal, we'll never stop it when it's illegal."
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Comments
There are many laws that are routinely ignored -- speed limits being the most obvious example. I think it's a stretch to assume that the fact that speed limits are exceeded more often than obeyed (which means that massive arrest, or at least ticketing, is needed to enforce it)is an indication of the moral health of our society. Perhaps it is an indication of the general public's belief that the law is stupid.
I say this as someone who considers myself in the pro-life camp, so while I may sympathize with the sentiment that I suspect inspired the "moral health" comment I just don't think that the need to enforce a law with "massive arrests" indicates the moral status of society.
Randall · July 18, 2007 05:02 PM
From an enforcement standpoint, the easiest thing to do would be to punish the abortionists rather than the recipients.
Charge any woman who has an abortion with aiding and abetting.
I'll bet if it worked like that you could get any number of women to testify against who ever the government brought up on charges just so they wouldn't go to jail.
That some states had fairly high rates of abortion when it was supposedly legal doesn't mean that abortion rates fell after Roe v. Wade. They did not. They rose quite dramatically.
The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler
Don?t bang your head!
There are many laws that are routinely ignored -- speed limits being the most obvious example. I think it's a stretch to assume that the fact that speed limits are exceeded more often than obeyed (which means that massive arrest, or at least ticketing, is needed to enforce it)is an indication of the moral health of our society. Perhaps it is an indication of the general public's belief that the law is stupid.
I say this as someone who considers myself in the pro-life camp, so while I may sympathize with the sentiment that I suspect inspired the "moral health" comment I just don't think that the need to enforce a law with "massive arrests" indicates the moral status of society.