Would overturning Roe save democracy?

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


There’s a lot to pick through in David Brooks column today on Roe vs. Wade. (Shorter: “If we had just handed women’s bodies over to the whims of majority rule, this country wouldn’t have had all these problems over the years.”) But let’s just settle in on the key phrase:

If [the abortion issue] had remained in the legislatures, we would have seen a series of state-by-state compromises reflecting the views of the centrist majority that’s always existed on this issue.

Now in some senses this is right, and liberals have suffered somewhat for relying on the courts; they’ve grown fat and lazy, which has made it easier for the pro-life movement to chip away at abortion rights in the legislature. But that’s very different from arguing that Roe has torn this country apart, which seems plainly wrong. As Barbara O’Brien writes, well before Roe vs. Wade the hardliners on both sides “were engaging in the same shouting-past-each-other arguments they engaged in after Roe v. Wade.” Indeed, I’m not sure what country Brooks thinks he’s living in if he thinks that state legislatures always produce “compromise” laws that everyone views as legitimate. (Would clinic-bombers go quiet down if “fetus murder” was enshrined by legislatures instead of the courts? Of course not.)

Even more interesting, though, is his contention that there’s a “centrist majority” view on the issue. What exactly, I’ve always wondered, is that view? Polling usually shows that around one-fourth of Americans favor “abortion on demand,” a small percentage think it should be banned outright, and a majority of Americans think it should be legal with certain restrictions. No doubt that middle position is what Brooks had in mind.

But as Christopher Caldwell argued a few years back, that middle two-thirds or so probably isn’t going to favor the compromise solution Brooks thinks they will. The crowd that supposedly wants abortion to be “sometimes legal” is likely just saying that to feel good about themselves, and when push comes to shove, won’t actually favor that sort of thing. For example, Americans claim to back abortion only for “serious” reasons: i.e. not “lifestyle” abortions. But only about 14,000 women per year get abortions for rape, incest, or life-saving reasons. That means the vast, vast majority of the roughly 43 percent of women who have had abortions—a figured put out by the pro-choice Guttmacher Institute and not seriously contested—have had them for these so-called “lifestyle” reasons. It seems pretty obvious that people try to take a stern stance towards the issue when polled about it—a little harmless finger-wagging is good for the conscience—but when it’s their own body involved, most women want to make their own decisions. Caldwell made another argument along these lines elsewhere that’s too good not to quote:

Americans say they are against late-term abortions [about 73 percent], but they favor, by wide margins [about 70 percent], allowing abortion for the “health of the mother.” A significant number of those who call themselves pro-life would even grant exceptions for the mental health of the mother, which is a third-trimester loophole you can drive a truck through.

So Brooks can’t hide behind a “silent majority” here. Indeed, the odds are overwhelming that if Roe v. Wade was repealed, most legislatures across the country would eventually pass law after law re-legalizing abortion. And yet the far-right would still be protesting and bombing abortion clinics and the like. The political climate would still be poisoned. In other words, life would go on… exactly as it does now. The main difference is that certain women in certain particularly conservative states would not have the right to choose. Of course, that too isn’t significantly different from now, where abortion is so costly or remote or impractical for a shamefully large number of low-income women that it’s all but illegal. So no, even setting aside all other arguments, I just can’t see the country transforming into some grand democratic utopia all because Roe vs. Wade gets overturned.

MORE: Michael Berube’s response to Brooks is marvelous.

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate