Abortion and subsidiarity

By Rod Dreher

Friday, April 20, 2007
Abortion and subsidiarity
Megan McArdle, a libertarian who considers herself to be "moderately pro-choice," doesn't like the SCOTUS decision on partial-birth abortion, but believes that America's abortion politics would probably benefit from Roe being overturned and the abortion issue being sent back to the states for decision at the local level. Excerpt:

"This argument has a lot of appeal. As one of my colleagues at The Economist pointed out, Europe had the same conversation as America about abortion in the sixties and seventies. The difference is, European countries either passed laws, or submitted the question to referendum. Even those who weren't happy with the outcome felt the process by which it had been reached was legitimate. In America, neither group feels that the Supreme Court's process was morally legitimate--or at least, I infer that pro-choicers do not, since they seem to view an attempt to ban abortion by exactly the same process as a completely illegitimate usurpation of power by conservative ideologues. "

Read the rest: http://www.beliefnet.com/blogs/crunchycon/2007/04/abortion-and-subsidiarity.html

Biretta tip: The Young Fogey http://sergesblog.blogspot.com/