Statutes that curtail [a woman’s] abortion choice are disturbingly suggestive of involuntary servitude, prohibited by the Thirteenth Amendment, in that forced pregnancy requires a woman to provide continuous physical service to the fetus in order to further the state’s asserted interest.
–Indiana law professor Dawn Johnsen (who has been nominated to head the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel), in an amicus brief filed with the Supreme Court on behalf of the National Abortion Rights Action League in the 1989 case Webster v. Reproductive Health Services
(Via National Review.)
February 27, 2009 at 1:10 pm
One argument against this sloppy thinking immediately jumps to mind: unless the child was a product of rape, calling the pregnancy “involuntary” is absurd.
February 28, 2009 at 12:22 am
Took the words right out of my mouth.