1360 Comments

Interesting how those of the lefty persuasion suddenly know what a woman is now.

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No they don’t..... birthing people get abortions 🙄. And bodily autonomy ends where big pharma profits begin

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Just as privacy ends when technocrat profits begin.

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That’s what this leak is and the insanity around it it really about. If your read what Thomas and Gorsuch have written about “privacy,” especially their dissents in the Carpenter case, it is clear that the view the Tech Oligarchy’s entire business model as flying in the face of Property Rights.

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Are they still a "birthing person" if they abort? "Aborting person?"

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I’m not sure....... maybe anyone who has an abortion is automatically identified as a “man” because, per leftist ideology (though not actual reality), to be a “man” is to not want children and to only want casual sex with no “consequences” (aka little humans). That would also mean if an abortion fails, or someone who rejects wanting to be an actual mom ends up having a baby anyway, the left can claim that “men can give birth.” 🤦‍♀️💩😩😂.

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How dare you, NCmom?

Don't you know Florida has a law against elder abuse? Many years ago I was able to give birth. But now that I am an elderly man, I can no longer become pregnant🤰 😥😩

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+10 internets for this post! :)

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Agreed, I couldn't help but laugh when reading it.

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We always did. We recognize that women have the inalienable right to control their own lives that includes the right to abortion without any state interference until the fetus' brain develops the capacity for mind. Until then, the fetus is but an object and so the woman has the absolute right to end her pregnancy.

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There are some who might point out a certain 32-year old, Democrat Congresswoman whose brain has not yet developed the capacity for mind...

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Maturity usually comes with age, however it is not guaranteed. Some people can be mature adults at 14, others can live to be 94 and still be lacking in maturity. What frightens me is that I'm roughly 4 years older than the individual in question...and even 4 years ago, I was more mature, and I am not superhuman in any way.

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Conservatives are the problem.

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Yeah, those damn conservatives, always wanting to conserve human life.

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No, they're not, they just want to control women's sexuality, force them to suffer the consequences of having sex. They do not support full support of single mothers and their kids. Conservatives are not good people.

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Wait now, actions have consequences? Who would have known?

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Well there goes that assumption of good faith arguments.

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Generalize much, so all conservatives adhere to your stereotype of them. Every single conservative is a bad person. And let me guess, every liberal is a great person. Nice argument. I’d say, your opinion on abortion is just that your opinion. Others may have differing opinions. I’d also venture a guess that your a decent person. I happen to be 100% against all abortion, and think myself a decent person. You see me as a bogeyman, I see you as person that believes killing an unborn baby as birth control should be ok, which to me is insane, but I respect your right to that poorly thought out opinion.

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The Neo-Marxist uber-leftist of the Biden regime are the worst people on the planet at the present moment.

And certainly ant-constitutional in every instance.

They have effectively eliminated the southern border, allowing millions of illegal aliens to flood into the nation. They have destroyed the economy where no prices for essential goods and services have doubled from the time they took office. They are playing nuclear chicken with Russia, and nuclear war is now more likely than anytime since the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Anyone who still supports the Biden regime at this point is a moron or a psychopathic maniac.

\\][//

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Nope. They want women to face The adult responsibilities AFTER the women were irresponsible sexually.

Women and only women decide who shoots baby batter inside them raw dog style.

Ok, but face your adult responsibilities women.

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How old are you, M. Biss?

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None of this is true.

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Yeah, conservatives should just be aborted, post-partem.

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Until they are born. Then, you are on your own.)))) Typical example of conservatives not wanting to take responsibility for the results of their actions. lol

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Speaking of cute writing, did you forget to start four parentheticals?

But you are correct! Only Neo-liberals (read Statists) want more citizens (read slaves) dependent on State teat. Nothing controls the hoi polloi like utter dependence (I suppose fiat currency falling like manna might compete).

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Yeah, starting a War in Iraq and Afghanistan in order to conserve human life.

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You are describing the warmongering neo-cons and neo-liberals.

Remember that Democrats demanded another war vote just before Election Day 2002 so Dems could vote for it.

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I stand corrected. Conservatives don't always act to conserve human life, but not even close to all conservatives were for those wars, even at the time. The neos fooled us, didn't they.

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Hmm...A MrsS just hearted (thank you!) my post.

Honey, that you?

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and I think Conservatives are the solution. Damn good thing we are not having this debate on Twitter (at least for the next few months) or you would never know that.

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lol

Yeah, and it's an old debate that's always just getting started.

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Conservatives don't believe in inherent rights, so they are THE problem here.

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You are being obtuse. Of course conservatives believe in inherent rights. THAT's one of the things they want to conserve and save from State usurpation.

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Here you go again with your political-zealotry. There is no difference between you and someone who demands that abortion can NEVER be performed under ANY circumstance.

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In a way, you are right. Conservatives are the problem liberals need to overcome in their drive towards tyranny. I guess it depends on your goal. If the goal is freedom and liberty, conservatives are the solution. If your goal is tyranny and oppression, conservatives are the problem.

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Acting to protect rights is not tyranny.

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Liberals don't protect rights. There are now generations of inner city minorities who are proof of that. Liberals just want complete power. Today's "liberals" would consider JFK a raging right wing nut-job.

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"I guess it depends on your goal. If the goal is freedom and liberty, conservatives are the solution"

Conservatives are illiberal by definition, they believe in inherited rights, not inherent rights. They oppose liberalism that argues that rights are inherent.

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By definition? You mean "by my definition". Be honest Jeff (or is it really you Matt?).

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Damn conservatives always wanting people to face their adult responsibilities AFTER acting irresponsibly sexually...

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That's it. The price of freedom is responsibility. Abortion, especially multiple abortions, is nothing different from con men repeatedly declaring bankruptcy to avoid responsibility for their actions. The biggest problem about abortion though is that the man is not punished as it takes two to make a baby.

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The only relevant issue here is that women are beings and have THE inalienable right to control their own lives, they are not slaves to men or the state. Their unenumerated rights are protected by the Ninth Amendment: https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/amendment-9/ninth-amendment-historical-background.

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I may have an alternate view. I think abortion is an equal protection violation.

A man CAN be forced to pay for support regardless of his desire to be involved with the child (as awful as that sounds).

A woman CAN NOT be forced to have a child that the father wants.

In either case the father has zero control. Meanwhile a woman can’t not be forced to do anything.

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No, conservatives merely want women to suffer the consequences of having sex. The problem of an unwanted pregnancy is solved by aborting the nonsentient fetus.

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Lol no, that’s not necessary when one isn’t irresponsible sexually.

Adult choices, adult consequences.

What you describe are child like avoidance of sexual irresponsibility.

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Jeff Biss, can you actually look at an ultra sound at say, 20 twenty weeks, and still claim that a fetus is "but an object"?

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I think there's a few things with which the vast majority agree: 1) there's no easy dividing line; 2) the older the fetus the more protection it deserves. Therefore, a democratic concensus can be found (once the Court gets out of the way) which appropriately balances competing duties.

The binary rhetoric of "rights" is at the root of this impasse.

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I think the "vast majority" all agree that abortion is undesirable but sometimes necessary.

So what? The question is "Can the US force humans to give birth?" And I'd bet that a lot more people would say "hell, no" if they had wombs (and sex).

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I would go a step further and say "... but sometimes undesirable" and I would agree with that sentiment too. Kids are expensive pests.

But, once you're burdened with kids (wherever we might draw that line, and whoever we might blame for that burden) "can the US force you to raise a child?" Yes, yes it can. Not only are you not allowed to kill your kids (or sell them into slavery), unless you find some willing dupe to adopt them, you're also required to pay for their necessities. It's almost a form of slavery - but one we all seem to agree is entirely appropriate.

I don't see why any of that should be different because the kid may still be on the other side of a vagina.

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The ruination of my home state is now complete. In Colorado one may now argue that leaving one’s newborn in the snow to die is legal.

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I happen to have a uterus, have used it three times to produce humans, and I’m all aboard for stopping elective abortion.

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Which in no way detracts from my point.

Wait! You favor non-elective abortion???

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And in the very few necessary cases, most people wouldn’t even call it abortion.

Abortion is an elective surgery. Nothing more.

Needing surgery for a real medical reason isn’t an abortion.

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Wordsmithing isn't ethics.

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The Mississippi law that the court is ruling on strikes the right balance.

It gives the woman 15 weeks to decide if she wants to terminate her pregnancy or not. After 15 weeks, she can still terminate the pregnancy if it endangers her health or they find something wrong with the fetus (e.g. Down Syndrome). That's a fair compromise.

It's not unreasonable to ask women to make up their mind and decide if they want to have the baby or not by the 15th week of pregnancy. Any woman who is sexually active should have already given some thought to what she would do in the event of an unintended pregnancy.

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If fairness and balance was on the menu today your probably right.

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"I like rights!! I like rights", I must say. Rights are not the problem. Rights are a recognition of common humanity,

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I like rights too. I just don't like the binary rhetoric that often accompanies their assertion. A "right" is a variable, not a solution.

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It is silly to suggest a developed fetus is without mind. If it has a heartbeat it is thinking things like "I am sure happy here in my mommy's ocean" -- well not in so many words, but yes. I don't think it expects betrayal.

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No, a heart beat means nothing, only brain development does.

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Your argument makes no sense. First of all, without the growth of the fetus, brain development wouldn't happen, secondly, a child born with a genetic disorder that impedes brain development would (according to your assertion) not be human.

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There is a point in development when the brain supports mind, before that, it does not. It's a simple fact.

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What controls heartbeat?

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The autonomic nervous system. It works independently of the "mind". Heart cells beat on their own and synchronize when they touch.

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Brain is developed at 8 weeks. Now what?

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Not enough to support consciousness, experience, etc.

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Somehow that seems more like projection than mental telepathy (which also does not exist).

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How dare you say that. You are erasing me as a person!! I need to be SEEN!!

;-)

Of course it's projection. So is: "I think the "vast majority" all agree that abortion is undesirable but sometimes necessary." Which just happens to be the first thing of yours I saw.

We understand each other through projection. We empathize (and hate) through projection. So we do it a lot. All of us. (projection!).

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No. Telling you what I think is not projection because I'm telling you I thought it.

You have naked assertions abuot what a fetus must be thinking. That is clearly projection. Unless you, Internet stranger, have the wackiest keyboard setup I can imagine.

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It's silly to claim that a blastula without a mind has a mind.

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Not Jeff Bliss, but yes. That, again, is why people are arguing. If we all agreed, we wouldn't be here commenting on this.

We'd be commenting somewhere else because someone else on the Internet was wrong.

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This is why such laws should be up to each state. Let the people in each state vote for what they desire. Will some people be left in the wrong states? The answer is yes. However for taxes, cost of living, overregulation and a myriad of other things, people are already left living in the wrong states. Such is the price of freedom.

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"This is why such laws should be up to each state. "

No. The fact is that we need a federal standard to protect rights. Only beings have rights, objects do not and without a clear demarcation using brain development, that determines whether the fetus has the capacity for mind, certain states will infringe on the rights of women or fail to protect sentient fetuses. That is the issue.

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Would a live birth without "sufficient" brain development (think of people born with only a brain stem for example) be subject to killing?

We need to decide if human life has value. To many it doesn't and never has. This is the real question that we should be honest about. Right now we allow the freedom to be stupid and ride around on motorcycles for example. Many die this way, but we allow it. Should we? You might say that person made a choice, but can a 1 year old baby make a choice? Does it's life have value? How about a 1 week old baby?

We make choices all the time. Some very foolish.

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Unfortunately, the rights enumerated here were never voted on by the republic. Surely, a pro-abortion rights amendment to the Constitution is doable, especially, as many on the left seem to argue, more people want it than don't want it...

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There is no right in question to protect. Show me in writing where there is a right to abortion. Show me, if not, you have no argument. You may wish for a such a right to exist, but wishing does not make something so.

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Jim Crow really worked out well for us, too . . .

If we frame this (properly, I think) in terms of fundamental human rights, there should not be states that are exempt.

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Jim Crow was allowed to form as a result of the failures of Johnson and the end to Reconstruction. The court upheld it decades later largely by putting blinders on in order to say that the services and treatment were separate but equal when they were separate, but anything but equal. That cannot be compared to abortion in any way.

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Jim Crow was the "Settled Law" of the land for quite a while till it was overturned because the Justices finally relied on first principles.

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Drew, I'm not arguing, I'm trying to engage you on the level of moral reasoning. Yes, before the emergence of ultra sound technology, perhaps it was understandable to see the fetus as "but an object." But not now, at least not to me, and I can't understand how anyone can in good conscience feel otherwise.

Could you expand on why fetal imagery does not impact your views on abortion?

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What I find ironic is that some countries, primarily in Europe, have granted 'personhood' to Great Apes, yet continue to insist that a fetus is not a person.

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Stephen Sanford, your observation epitomizes the morally and intellectually confused state of the modern Leftist mind.

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May 3, 2022·edited May 3, 2022

If I grab a sea turtle egg or two just laid in a nest I’ll go to prison for killing an endangered species.

If I want a hole drilled in my baby’s head and her brains vacuumed out during labor, that’s perfectly okay because she isn’t a “person.”

Libs use “person”the same way they use “gender.” It means whatever they want it to mean at the moment with no thought allowed.

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Perhaps because unlike a fetus, these animals are post-birth alive. Might that explain it, whether or not you agree with those unnamed countries.

The correct parallel for your argument would surely be those countries ban abortion for female apes but permit it in humans - something that no country asserts.

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How many months into pregnancy do you support the right to an abortion?

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The problem with people like Jeff, aside from their zealotry in their political-religious faith, is that they have no issue with eugenics. Hitler's "eliminate the undesirables, the unproductive mouths to feed" is fine by them. Race based, gender based, mental capacity based abortions are all fine because of the dehumanization and sense of moral superiority which is used to quash any sense of doubt. It's the ultimate irony, as they walk in the footsteps of the Nazis.

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May 6, 2022·edited May 6, 2022

Today, abortions take many more female than male lives, and many more minority lives than their fraction of the population. Here is a news item from 2020 in which the UN states that 140 million women are missing, mostly due to sex-selective abortion.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/140-million-females-missing-due-son-preference-71547237

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Yep. Just look at China where the percentage of males vs females is especially skewed. This is what happens when people succumb to madness.

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How can you look at an ultrasound at six weeks and claim that it is human?

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The brain starts developing at 6-8 weeks. At 3 months it makes up half the baby's weight. The baby starts moving at six to eight weeks.

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So you support abortion up until 6-8 weeks?

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I think abortion is a loss at any time.

But, in this time of everyone telling each other what to do with our bodies, I am hesitant to tell women what to do. I want to control my body (against the covid vaccine, for example) so I am not going to micromanage women beyond the kind of limits we have now. Furthermore, we live in a world in which life is not held sacred in so many other ways. I'm not going to draw a line that costs women when so much life is already not respected. It isn't fair to give them the check.

But it disrespects life to denigrate the fetus and make believe it is nothing. Abortion is a grave act. I would hope facing this would encourage women to find another way and for everyone to make the decision to have the baby as easy as possible for the woman, and really support her and her child if they are in tough circumstances. Don't give the woman the choice of murderer or welfare queen.

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and the brain is not sufficiently developed to support mind until much later.

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I thought your original comment about projection was useful if only to highlight that we don't know what goes on in another's mind. We don't directly know what others are thinking or how their minds work. We project from how we see our minds work.

Nobody has direct access to a fetal mind but external imaging shows similar activity to a baby's. Which makes sense. Why wouldn't mind development be a continuous process? Fetuses as young as six weeks respond to stimulus. They have an immense brain at 3 months. It is convenient to think of them as inert when you want to kill them. But parents that don't want to kill them play them music and talk to them and react to their movements as if they had minds.

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20 weeks? See 12.

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Agreed, my statement holds for 12 weeks if not earlier. I guess I wanted to gauge how little shame the "pro-choice" crowd has when it comes to this issue. Turns out, virtually none.

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According to neuroscientists, the brain and nervous system are not sufficiently developed until much later, probably near or soon after 20 weeks.

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The capacity for consciousness differentiates object from being. Therefore, the question is whether the brain is developed enough, if it is, then it is a being and deserves protection and if not, then it is an object incapable of experience. The universal consideration should be that and at the federal level.

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May 3, 2022·edited May 3, 2022

"The capacity for consciousness differentiates object from being"

If true, there are going to be a whole lot of people who are going to get un-plugged from life support systems.

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The law has been there for a long time. Brain dead people are recognized as such.

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What of people who have severe Downs Syndrome or Dementia? Are they no longer 'people'?

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"Unconscious" does not mean "brain-dead"

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You’re definition would mean you can kill someone during surgery. The capacity to pull the plug only applies if the person is determined to be incapable of recovering. The expectation is for babies brains to develop in pregnancy. I have no issue with aborting an already dead fetus. The issue is all the living growing ones.

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A developing brain is not drain dead

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I am one of many who believes humans have a soul, from the moment of conception.

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Wouldn't that definition exclude from "being": people in comas, the severely mentally handicapped, patients under general anaesthetic, people who are knocked out or passed out drunk, etc.

And doesn't your definition include many animals?

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No. The issue is brain condition. Is the brain intact or not, damaged or not. For example the law already recognizes this, survivors can pull the plug only in certain circumstances.

And yes, my definition applies to animals who are beings.

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Yes - the circumstance is unable to recover. Certain death (or near so). None of us would be here if that were the typical outcome if pregnancy

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This is the problem with humankind and I suspect what will lead to its demise. We are a controlling species with very little humbleness. You think we know consciousness? Science has been unable to locate consciousness because it is non-local. We get glimmers of what consciousness is, but it remains elusive for a reason.

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One of the greatest problems with virtually any kind of understanding is a lack of humility. Far too often, men and women, in their pursuit of knowledge, abandon wisdom and in the process, succumb to arrogance, willful ignorance and pride. It makes me think of a famous quote from physics: "I'd rather have questions I can't answer than answers I can't question."

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We do know that we are conscious and so can safely say that all nonhuman animals with brains are too. Our brains are us.

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How dare you bring science into this??? 😉

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Capacity for consciousness. Define it. You are arguing for euthanasia of many elderly people. Be careful.

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LOL! Think about it more.

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If a navel goes ungazed, does it make a thought?

We can't all agree on your claim. If we could, it would be a solved problem.

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LOL! I already know that many don't, but that won't stop me from making it.

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The fundamental characteristic of a fetus (and the zygote before it) is that it is in the process of development. To objectify it by conceptually freezing it in a moment of time is both a scientific and moral distortion. This fundamental truth is implicit in the very word "abortion" - preventing the origin (further development and birth) of a human. Even in physics, one cannot properly understand a dynamical system by considering only its static nature at a moment in time.

It is typical of the liberal viewpoint to ascribe moral rights even to inanimate objects, as when those in the Rights of Nature movement ascribe rights to the land, water, and air. They likewise ascribe moral rights to future generations, whose bodies are mere potentialities, someday to coalesce from unknowable collections of molecules present in the land, water, and atmosphere; and they attribute moral responsibility for the welfare of those future humans to those living today. But once the coalescence has been definitively set in motion by the act of conception, the assignment of moral value is put on hold. Does this not seem contradictory?

The argument that a fetus that is not yet viable has no rights, and that the mother therefore has absolute dominion over it, is a form of "might makes right". It simply ignores the question of what moral responsibility the mother and father have toward the developing human. It also stands in contradiction to the typical liberal belief that we have a moral responsibility to support those who depend on us - the poor, the homeless, refugees, the physically and mentally infirm.

I have always found the standard arguments in favor of unrestricted abortion to be similar to right-wing arguments denying any moral responsibility toward the weak and the needy, and the arguments that assert the dominion of the powerful over those who cannot defend themselves.

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"But once the coalescence has been definitively set in motion by the act of conception, the assignment of moral value is put on hold. Does this not seem contradictory?"

Yes. It is the central contradiction of the so-called "pro-choice" movement.

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I can understand your position. Personally I would never have an abortion, and never did. It was not based on religious principals, but I do feel I have a responsibility to a developing baby who is dependent on me for it's very life.

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I cannot disagree more with your final sentiment concerning "right-wing" (conservative? libertarian? anarchic?) "dominion." (Do caring individuals have "dominion" over those they choose to care for? I could go on, but it would destroy my point.)

But, wow!! What a perfectly written rebuttal. My only point is I wouldn't change a word. Thank you, M. Mitchell.

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Until the fetus' brain develops the capacity for mind, it is an object.

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You can repeat that till the cows come home, but it won't make it any more sensible. A (human) fetus is a developing human. It is obviously fundamentally different from a static object such as chair. The very purpose of abortion is to terminate the developmental process, not merely to eliminate a static object. Calling a fetus an "object" is just a way to avoid facing and discussing these obvious truths. If you want to persuade others of your viewpoint, you should at least try to approach the subject with scientific integrity.

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Until the fetus develops the capacity for mind it is human but not a being and the woman has the absolute right to abort it if she wants to. It's an inalienable right not up to you, it's up to her.

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Jeff Bliss: You don't appear to engage in reasoned discussion - you just ignore what others write and keep repeating the same dictum over and over, without addressing any of the arguments opposing your point of view. There's no point in trying to discuss an issue with someone who isn't interested in having a rational discussion.

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Excellent assessment John. A child can't walk when it's born because the synaptic connections in the cortex of the brain have not been made, and I wonder if he thinks he can implement his logic if the legs off a child are removed at birth?

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LOL! You obviously refuse to understand. Mind defines being, no mind, no being, only an object with no capacity for experience, feeling etc.

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May 5, 2022·edited May 6, 2022

What exactly do you mean by a mind? Do you consider animals to have "minds?" I hardly would define a developing embryo that will evolve into a baby, a human being as an object no matter one's views about abortion.

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Mind = experience, feelings, etc. Yes animals are beings because they have mind. Until the embryo develops sufficiently to feel, it is an object. The woman feels and so is a being and has absolute control over her life.

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Not all animals have a "mind" sponges don't, and what about all those plants, trees, and wild flowers in a forest, the life forms that give us oxygen to breathe and soak up that carbon dioxide that is warming up our planet and endangering all forms of life? Mindless, without feelings, but of great value, so not just objects.

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Old Jewish law: a fetus is not viable until it graduates from medical school or law school.

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There are a ton of fetus's then.

Edit: I'm a fetus then, maybe I can live to be 1,000-2,000 years old at this rate!

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Classic. A propos tiger mom circles, also.

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May 4, 2022·edited May 4, 2022

That is a joke right, and it's funny.

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“until the fetus' brain develops the capacity for mind”

I say the only humans who meet your criteria are those who can accurately complete a triple integral.

Prove me wrong.

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Is the proper response to hiss like a snake?

SSS

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🤣

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May 4, 2022·edited May 4, 2022

"The fetus is but an object"...a matter of opinion the Court seems postured to kick back to the democratic/legislative process for resolution. You can still hold that belief, now you just have to do the hard work of convincing your fellow Americans if you want the law to reflect your position.

Which is what the left is afraid of, because polling shows that vast majority of Americans are not so dismissive of an unborn child.

And no right is absolute, even the enumerated rights in the Bill of Rights are not absolute. Even Constitutionally enumerated and protected rights are subject to reasonable restriction. Anyone who talks about an absolute right is a person not looking to be taken seriously.

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Objects do not have mind, beings do. Beings have rights, objects do not.

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So endangered species eggs don't have rights? You better tell the government about this.

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"Anyone who talks about an absolute right is a person not looking to be taken seriously."

I think you understate a not-well-known issue with absolutists: most are confidence men (I would use human here, but it just doesn't sound right).

Btw, excellent post; wouldn't change a word.

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May 3, 2022·edited May 3, 2022

"until the fetus' brain develops the capacity for mind"

This is your (and maybe half the population's) determination. It's also mine. But it has *nowhere near* a consensus. The problem is thorny ... but it must be solved, and must be solved properly.

But you're not solving it -- you're dictating it. Why do I say this? Because, from our earlier conversations, it's clear to me you don't actually believe in democracy. (You're too intelligent to not understand what democracy requires, unless you're in severe denial.)

You believe in some other moral ordering and therefore type of governance ... I dunno, "analytic-intellectocracy", I suppose.

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"But you're not solving it -- you're dictating it."

Being objective as to what differentiates object from being and arguing that that be the gauge of when a woman's right to control her own life is not dictating. Arguing, as conservatives do, that she has no such right and must be forced to have a child is.

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May 6, 2022·edited May 6, 2022

There is no such thing as objectivity. Full stop.

That applies both to values AND "facts", because, inside one's mind, there are no facts -- there are only human-derived things, like perceptions, beliefs, logic, etc. It's embedded in the nature of human beings, who are ALL limited and imperfect, and unavoidable so.

Once we start perceiving and respecting this, everything else about politics will start to make a hell of a lot more sense. As it is today, half the country believes the other half is stupid, evil, and or insane. This shit's gotta stop. We need to cut the idiotic hubris and adopt humility again, or we're going up in a mushroom cloud. And, it sure looks like that might be very soon.

I'm fully aware this is (currently) the opinion of only a tiny number people, and here on GG, maybe only me. But after we go through a trial by fire during these years, and if we come out the other side, I'm confident it'll begin to dawn on the majority.

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It is an objective fact that a nonsentient fetus has no capacity for mind.

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It's an objective fact that there is no right to abortion. It is also an objective fact that you belong to an edge of a fringe, fanatical movement and as such, agitate against anyone who disagrees with even a hint of it. No amount of whining will change either of those things. They just make you look as block-headed as a Jihadist.

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Curious. Is it ok to kill a newborn puppy or cat before it’s eyes are open?

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LOL! Read what I've written EVERY time. A nonsenitent fetus has no mind by definition. The point of demarcation is the development of mind. Got it?

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So one can kill for gender, mental development and so forth? One can make Hitler's 'eliminate the undesirables' a reality? If so, that is a world devoid of anything but social Darwinism and as such, an evil place.

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LOL! You do not comprehend what you read if that is what you think.

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May 5, 2022·edited May 5, 2022

Let me be more precise. Your argument is a philosophical rather than a biological one. Obviously the unborn have minds…they just aren’t yet mature. And in your worldview only minds who are able to reason etc constitute life. But that is PHILOSOPHY NOT BIOLOGY. If you were brain dead, would you be a human? Of course. If your brain was that of an infant, would you be worth saving even as an adult? Yes. Do you see how you are arguing quality of life vs biological life? If the fetus is not a life why abort it? I will tell you why: because IT WILL ABSOLUTELY MATURE TO FULL DEVELOPMENT.( And that is an inconvenient reality for some people.) WHY? Because it has the programming in its DNA to do so. Abortion merely prevents full development because it ends a life on the path to full development. The fetus is not a clump of cells (fact) or an appendage (fact)or a parasite riding on a woman (fact). It is a life and that is just a biological fact that is uncontroverted in every medical text you can get your hands on. I suggest you find one.

But apart from the biological argument …there is absolutely no argument that roe v Wade was not wrongly decided and that’s where the discussion must begin after all. Why? Because without this decision, the 60 million babies that were aborted likely would be alive today. And before someone jumps in to say that they would have occurred albeit illegally …that is not what the evidence reveals. This is absolutely not why roe came to be…no evidence. Ive read the stats. No….in fact, roe and doe MORALIZED abortion. The stats revealed that after roe abortions increased steadily to this day.

And for the many of us who value black lives and welcome debate on both sides of the aisle… do you realize that the population of blacks (percentage wise) would be about double had planned parenthood not planted all those clinics in the poorest and most ethnic neighborhoods. What a tragedy.

There’s no LOL here with all due respect.

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"Your argument is a philosophical"

LOL! That conservatives are illiberal by definition and do not accept inherent rights such as the fact that women have the inalienable, inherent right to control their own lives that includes ending an unwanted pregnancy without any state interference until the fetus becomes a being, at sentiency is THE point. Until the fetus develops mind it is a mere object, as are all cells and organs in a woman's body that the state has no control over.

Conservatives are the enemy, you have no rights in their mind because there are none referenced in the constitution! The Ninth Amendment protects unenumerated rights: https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/amendment-9/ninth-amendment-historical-background

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This is what we call in the legal biz: nonresponsive. There’s nothing here to get sadly.

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It seems to be a combination of trolling and being blinded by both ego and political-religious zealotry.

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May 4, 2022·edited May 4, 2022

Are you asking me, or Jeff Biss? Anyway, I think it's safe to assume a newborn puppy or cat certainly has an (animal) "capacity for mind", to use Jeff Biss' words, and I hope even Jeff would not think it OK to kill. On the other hand, he thinks lower-class white males should die off, so that doesn't seem to bode well for his opinions of animal rights.

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"...until the fetus' brain develops the capacity for mind."

Well, that clears up THAT mystery!

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What do you think about a man's ability to control his own life? If you believe that is an inalienable right, you must conclude that a father-in-waiting can terminate their connection with a pregnancy without legal or financial implications.

While you may call abortion an "absolute right", our Constitution does not. Through some wild intellectual contortions, the Roe v Wade decision found a right in the Constitution that is not there: privacy. Maybe it should be, but it's not. Then, in an even more twisted contortion, they found a right to an abortion under a right to privacy. (Oddly, those same folks who champion abortion under the "right" to privacy discard that "right" to privacy when the COVID vaccine is the topic.)

The Constitution is also very clear that anything not specifically identified as under the purview of the Federal government belongs to the states.

So, IMO, the Roe v Wade decision has two huge flaws. It is in inferred right that is based on another inferred right (kind of like the game of "electricity" you played as a child), and it takes under Federal purview something the Constitution clearly states belongs with the States.

Again, oddly enough, the same people who champion a double-inferred right AND ignoring the 10th amendment, also oppose a specifically enumerated right that is clearly assigned to the Federal government: the right to self defense.

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The complete lack of fathers in this whole debate is indicative of serious issues that no one wants addressed.

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That is an ENORMOUS problem. I truly believe that if we could return to the level of fatherhood this country had 50 years ago, we would be in a much, much better state.

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The woman has absolute control over her life and body. Men have no say. The only considerations are a) the woman and (b) the fetus, whether it has the capacity for consciousness or not.

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And a woman should have no say over a man's life. If he doesn't want to support the child, he shouldn't have to. Period. End of story.

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Yes, he can discuss it with her, if he wants to.

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"We recognize that women have the inalienable right to control their own lives that includes the right to abortion without any state interference until the fetus' brain develops the capacity for mind."--Jeff Biss

Who the fuck is "We" in your assertion here? When a fetus has a viable heart beat is the standard. The concept of "mind" is so debatable, that centuries of philosophical haggling has come to no firm consensus.

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May 4, 2022·edited May 4, 2022

I believe Jeff considers himself a member of some sort of more-equal-than-others aristocracy, and thus uses the royal "we" to disseminate the party line from that aristocracy. He has made it explicitly clear to me that he does not consider lower-class right-wing white males to be have same sort of human value as he.

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lol at royal "we"!

Well, he might be right, even if he is only middle class (perhaps an aristocrat wanna-be?).

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Oh, he may well be an "upper"[-middle]-class person. My complaint here is that thinks that provides *moral* superiority, not merely functional advantages. Certainly an attitude that, in a democracy worthy of the name, one would want to keep well under wraps.

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Yes, one would hope.

Hey, that means you were also trying to help him do so!

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Re: the leak:

It's TRUE insurrection, whether it came from the right or the left.

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No, it's giving the people information that they need, to know that conservatives do not believe in rights.

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Ahh, so in your world, all leaks are equal but some are more equal than others. If you fail comprehend something being wrong if the shoe is on the other foot, you have lost all rationality.

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May 5, 2022·edited May 5, 2022

Then how do you explain why the left will force Covid mRNA vaccines down women’s throats, but when it comes to abortion, it’s anything goes?

It is such a glaring contradiction to many of us, yet the Left just ignores it and pretends it doesn’t exist. It makes you guys hypocrites.

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First, Covid-19 is a health issue and affects all people, not just women. Second, everyone has the right to not get infected by another person. Third, we have had vaccination mandates for children to go to school, to be able to work, such as nurses, to travel, etc.

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Jeff -

Counterargument: doesn't the unborn child have a right to exist?

As for Covid, there is nothing in the constitution that says that anyone "has the right to not get infected by another person." Even the Federal mandates that weren't struck down were limited only to those mandates which were tied to federal spending (ex: medicare). So what were you saying? :).

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"s for Covid, there is nothing in the constitution that says that anyone "has the right to not get infected by another person."

BINGO! The GOP can argue that NO rights exist that are not listed! NONE! That is my point!

https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/amendment-9/ninth-amendment-historical-background

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"Counterargument: doesn't the unborn child have a right to exist?"

That IS what I've been arguing from the very start! A child is a being, it has mind! Reread EVERY post that I've written and you should see that.

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The concept of MIND has been a contentious idea throughout history. When is the mind truly conscious? Children are not considered "consenting adults" until various ages in various states because their minds haven't matured to the point of making adult decisions. Do these children have viable minds?

You cannot use the vague concept - "having a mind" as the point at which a fetus is human. The best stage would be havin a viable heartbeat, if you are going to choose any stage. BUT; All fetuses are potential human beings, and murdering them is criminal homicide.

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As I pointed out in a reply to Jeff Bliss, orthodox liberals' worldview regarding abortion is inconsistent with their worldview on various other issues, such as climate change. One of the main arguments that climate change poses a grave danger is that it will lead to changes that will adversely affect future generations. Needless to say, the individuals of future generations have neither brains nor minds, nor even bodies, as they do not yet even exist. Yet in the orthodox liberal worldview, we have a moral responsibility toward those non-existent beings but none at all toward an identifiable being that has started on the distinct path to becoming a human.

I recognize that the decision to have an abortion can be morally and emotionally fraught, but it seems clear to me that the real motivation of those with a (loud) public voice supporting unrestricted abortion is purely selfish - to disown any moral responsibility toward the life they create.

As a side note, I do believe that climate change is dangerous, though I consider the gravest threat to be the existence of nuclear weapons, but that's another topic.

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Me: looking in the constitution for the right to an Inalienable right to an abortion.

Also me: wondering why the moment of bodily control isn’t when a woman decides to let a man shoot baby batter in her raw?

How many formats of cheap birth control exist?

31?

33?

desiring the ability to avoid adult responsibilities after not exercising your human sexual agency at the moment it was needed, but not being able to gain the legislative majorities needed to do so.

This is the actual policy being reversed.

Men passed the laws that forced irresponsible men to pay for their children.

When will women get majority support (women are more than 50% of the population) for laws to be passed that force women to face their adult responsibilities after being irresponsible sexually?

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You would wonder about that. The only relevant issue is the woman, her rights and that of a fetus that has developed enough for consciousness.

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Incorrect again! You are remarkably consistent in this...

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I'm correct.

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No, you’re consistent

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You must have been banned for excellent writing.

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As do men and other-gendered individuals. Well, except under the law. We should probably fix the law.

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Other gendered isn’t a thing. If you have a Y chromosome and are human you are a boy or man. If you don’t you are a girl or woman. “Feelings” have nothing to do with it..

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You inherit a Y chromosome from your father and an X chromosome from your mother and that makes you a male. A female inherits an X chromosome from her father and women only produce X chromosomes. Your biological sex is determined by the male, not the female.

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I didn’t claim otherwise........ I pointed out a human with a Y chromosome is a male/ man/ boy. A human lacking a Y chromosome is a female/ mother/ woman. A humans either do have a Y chromosome making them a make, or they don’t making them a female. There aren’t any other options. I never said anything about which parent the sex chromosomes are inherited from determining that sex.

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I just wanted to point out that a male has both an X and Y chromosome and the sex of the child is determined by the father. I was a biology teacher, so what do you expect?

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You forget, one has Men and Women....and children with adult bodies trying to make the rest of the world live in their fantasies.

I am not talking about people who have hormone and sexual reassignment surgery, but people who think they can declare they are a gender beyond a man or woman, or people who think they can change genders on a whim. That is no different than me proclaiming myself "The infallible Earthly Emperor" and expecting people to pay homage as if I were.

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Whoa there. I didn't say anything about stopping our treatment of children as property. The original version of the ERA was supposed to do that!

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Who is "We" Biss? Women have no inalienable right to murder their unborn children.

Homicide is illegal throughout the civilized world. It is way past time that American law becomes civilized again.

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"The right to choose is a woman’s right and a woman’s right alone. Every woman in Canada has a right to a safe and legal abortion," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted Tuesday.

Boy, HE must know what a woman is!

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Wow, he honors their rights on abortion, but what if they disagree with him about Covid mandates?

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Interesting that this came out now, and three of the judges were elected by Trump, and the other 2 by baby and papa Bush. I wonder who leaked it, and if it was political motivated to swing votes to the democrats and undermine any influence Trump would have in affecting upcoming elections.

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If that is the case, it's working. I was going to vote Republican in November to stem the tide of woke ideology. Now you couldn't pay me enough to even think it...

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Why, if I understand you correctly you were going to vote Republican, but now no?

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What a woman is now she has always been, biologically speaking. Nothing has changed in that regard.

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Nah, they all became biologists.

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Did you not get the memo? According to the left men can conceive.

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They're nothing if not zealous in their supplication to ideology.

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Yeah, and consistency is for hobgoblins, not righteous zealots (or is it the zealously righteous) and their (opportunistically malleable) ideology.

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The best way to show what a good little soldier you are is by unblinkingly and unquestioningly accepting double standards. Thinking for yourself is so bourgeoise.

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It's nice to read what an actual civil rights lawyer has to say about civil right rulings.

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Glenn is wrong, the Supreme Court has argued that there are no federal protections against majoritarian rule as it has refused to protect a woman's inalienable right to control her own life that includes abortion without state interference until the fetus' brain develops the capacity for mind at which point it becomes a being and has rights. Prior to that the fetus is a mere object.

Glenn is arguing that this opinion protects the individual women from the "tyranny of the majority" when it does not. The SCOTUS has the obligation to clarify at what point the fetus becomes a being and has rights to clarify how far state laws can go, but this does no such thing and so leaves it open for full infringement.

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By issuing Roe, the Court made law. It is not the role of the Court to make law, only to review and EXISTING law to see if it runs afoul of the Constitution. I do not like the opinion but it is still correct. Now mobilize and vote for reps who will follow your views on abortion.

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No, RvW restricted states from enacting laws that infringe on the rights of women.

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Nonsense. Had it done that, it would have simply struck down a law in a state. It did not do so. Rather it created a framework (of law) on the question. That's not judicial review but judicial policy making.

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Nonsense. Rights are national, not up to the individual states and RvW acknowledged that.

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The Constitution is silent on it so it's only a 'right' in your politics. The pretzel logic used in Roe was laughable and even Ginsberg admitted that. The legal reasoning is solid and the states should decide at the legislative level.