Supreme Court on Child Abuse
- Share via
Wait a minute. The Supreme Court says, in the case of a small child so badly brutalized by his father that he will live out his life profoundly brain damaged, the government (federal, state or local) has no duty under the Constitution to protect that child from danger or to intervene to save his life.
The same Supreme Court is about to reconsider a woman’s right to make decisions concerning her own body and it’s quite possible that government may once again have the right (duty) under the Constitution to protect a fetus from danger by intervening to save its life (by making abortion illegal).
You can’t have it both ways. Either everyone is protected--before or after birth--or no one is protected.
Abortion remains an issue of one group’s power over another. And look who’s in control, from local to state to federal officials--a sea of male faces. Faces that will never, never have to make the difficult choice to have an abortion.
As Jane O’Reilly says in her book (“The Girl I Left Behind”), “The one absolute alternative to the possibility of needing an abortion is to be born a man.”
SUSAN REDDY BUTLER
La Mirada
Sign up for Essential California
The most important California stories and recommendations in your inbox every morning.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
