The Observer, February 10, 2006
Volume XXXVIII, Issue 16
A Little to the Left: Alito confirmation is bad news for women's rights
Warning: If you're fed up with the abortion issue, stop reading now. Otherwise, give me a few minutes to get something off of my chest. As a young American woman, I am terrified that in my lifetime, I will see the reversal of the abortion precedents set by Roe v. Wade/Doe v. Bolton.
I know that Roe v. Wade gets tossed around a lot in the abortion debate, and many people just don't understand what being pro-choice, or pro-Roe really means. According to this case, being pro-Roe means that under the Bill of Rights, a woman has the right to terminate her pregnancy. It is improper for a State to deny individuals the personal, marital, familial, and sexual right to privacy. Moreover, in no case in its history has the Court declared that a fetus – a developing infant in the womb – is a person. Therefore, the fetus cannot be said to have any legal "right to life."
More than that, with Roe v. Wade (a 7-2 decision) the Court agreed with Roe and upheld her right to terminate a pregnancy in the first trimester (90 days). The Court observed that Section 1 of the 14th Amendment contained three references to "person." In his majority opinion, Justice Blackmun noted that, for nearly all such references in the Constitution, "use of the word is such that it has application only post-natal. None indicates, with any assurance, that it has any possible prenatal application."
That said, I must also say that I knew Alito would be confirmed. I knew the Democrats could not muster up enough fervor to filibuster the hearings. But here is my question: how could Alito actually convince California Senator Dianne Feinstein that his 1985 comments were, in his own words, a reflection of "an advocate seeking a job?"
How could Feinstein, a woman, a California Democrat, and one of the few liberal bastions in Congress today nonchalantly dismiss a document detailing that in 1985 Alito boasted to the Reagan administration that he was proud to argue that "the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion?"
Feinstein was the only woman on the Senate Judiciary Committee for Alito's confirmation. Yes, that's right; the Senate Judiciary Committee was a one-woman show. Now with eight men and only one 72-year-old woman on the court, I am fearful that the reversal of Roe v. Wade is only a matter of time.
This is what Feinstein said of her conversation with Alito: "He said first of all it was different then," she said. "He said, 'I was an advocate seeking a job, it was a political job and that was 1985. I'm now a judge, I've been on the circuit court for 15 years and it's very different. I'm not an advocate, I don't give heed to my personal views, what I do is interpret the law.'" Not to be so cynical, but I can't help but worry that he still believes that part of his conservative calling is to defend the anti-abortion camp.
Now, I am not suggesting that the seat of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor needed to be filled by a woman, but someone a little less conservative than Alito would have been nice, especially considering that O'Connor was a key swing-voter in close cases. Should an abortion case appear before this court, this non-representative court, I can't imagine the consequences.
I'm terrified. Abortion is truly a women's issue and I am not comfortable knowing that I am not only under-represented on the Supreme Court bench but also that no one seems to mind that a once anti-abortion advocate is now an official Justice. I don't believe that someone as conniving and political as Alito won't serve as an activist judge.
I could find no consolation in the Democratic leadership. Instead, I find consolation in the power of women: the power of women who remember the back-alley abortions and who fought for equal rights for their bodies.
And I find consolation in my generation of women because I have no choice but to do so. My hope is, however, that we don't have to wait to fight for our right to reproductive freedom after it's gone but that we can fight to keep what we've won and deserve.
