It is strongly recommended that you include your outline in the body of your essay by using the outline as section titles. The headings below are there to remind you how section and subsection titles are formatted.

I think I'm going to discuss how abortion rights as granted by the court are an example of transcendental nonsense; by supporting the law with meaningless law talk, the court created a woman's right to abortion but left it on tenuous grounds. The reasons given for the law don't really add up to the court's conclusion, and the decision (and the right it provides) are open to attack. Lawyering is about changing the world with your words; the majority could not easily do that in regards to abortion, but they could use their power to invent a right and justify it with law talk. I've been thinking about this topic all weekend and I'm just starting to flush out how it will go, so take this as a very rough statement of what I'm looking to do. Also, I intend to stay away from analyzing Roe v Wade or other court decisions since the point of the class is not to read cases like we do in other boring classes. I'm focusing more on how/why the court's language and reasoning don't actually address justifications for women to have a choice, and the problems this creates.

I uploaded an outline I made on Word... I'm more comfortable with Word's format, but I'll try to keep a step by step update on the wiki.

Transcendental Nonsense: The Creation and Disintegration of Abortion Rights

-- By JaredBaumgart - 11 Feb 2008

Introduction

Transcendental nonsense in Roe v Wade suggests that women have the right to an abortion. More accurately, state legislatures cannot ban abortion, subject to certain restrictions. Because they are guaranteed in legal talk rather than functional language, abortion rights are tenuous. These rights illustrate Cohen’s contention that “traditional language of argument and opinion neither explains nor justifies court decisions” because it “forgets the social forces which mold the law and the social ideals by which the law is to be judged”. (Cohen, 40/812)

The Law Talk Problem

Blackmun’s opinion classifies abortion as a female privacy issue because he can then justify Roe’s outcome in law talk: the 14th Amendment guarantees the right to privacy, therefore States cannot prohibit abortion. Blackmun’s opinion may be correct under formal logic, in that his premises as defined lead to his conclusion. But it does not matter because logic can argue the same premises to the opposite conclusion. Blackmun’s logic cannot explain why we should have the right to abortion; it does not exist because the Constitution says so, and reaching that conclusion through law talk misses the true social and ethical justifications. The opinion is unconvincing because abortion is a complex issue with many facets beyond legal analysis, and to understand why abortion deserves legal protection requires inquiries into these other fields.

Meaningful abortion rights must be rooted in life’s realities, supported by empiricism. Few people advocate pro-choice because of the Constitution; other arguments are more compelling. Sociologically, communities benefit by reducing unwanted pregnancies, unwanted children, overcrowding, and resource depletion. Preserving individual liberty is an end in itself. Psychologically, unwanted pregnancies create substantial mental distress. Economically, abortion reduces financial burdens on poor families. Biologically, if a fetus is not a life then it holds no rights over its mother. Historically, some cultures allowed abortions. These functional arguments demonstrate the empirical value in abortion rights, but the rights still exist only through meaningless legal logic.

Holmes stresses that understanding the law requires understanding what it does and how it works. Roe limits States’ power to bar abortions; it functions by striking down legislation prohibiting abortion. Roe does not create an affirmative right to abortion, it only limits States’ powers. This distinction is important, because an affirmative right is difficult to take away. Roe only implies a right, which is more easily attacked. The right is only implied because superficial legal logic cannot establish a meaningful law; without reality-based support for the law it will not do anything. The law exists in writing but exerts little effect, and when five justices no longer accept Roe’s language it will no longer be true.

Making Pro-Choice Functional

The legal opinion presents only a legal reason to allow abortion; it does not change moral opinions, advance the utility, or change the stigma surrounding abortion. If abortion rights were created by normative values instead of legal language, the functional justifications would guarantee the right in a meaningful context that actually protects access to abortion. Though difficult, pro-choicers can achieve this end.

They have to convince religious pro-lifers that abortion does not offend spiritual beliefs, or that religion should not determine American politics. Religious institutions are highly influential and efforts to separate religious and secular morals would meet substantial resistance. Still, a difficult endeavor is doable. Religions adapt to their surrounding societies when pushed, and already some religious institutions are pro-choice.

Political opposition is formidable. Arnold’s political discussion indicates politicians will try to eliminate abortion because doing so can win elections. Claiming that the 14th Amendment guarantees the right to abortion will not appease political opposition; explaining the problem in functional terms might, because changing voters’ views affects which ends politicians pursue. By spurring action through the Court, the pro-choice movement did not effect political change which could have more concrete results.

Finally, creating a legal right does not address the problem’s roots. Abortion is one solution to society’s sexual and socioeconomic problems; we require abortion because we do not know how to fix social structures to prevent unwanted pregnancies in the first place. An alternative to converting pro-lifers is to instead cure the causes of abortions. Abortion may currently be too controversial to enact change, but by remedying the root causes and minimizing the problem, a pro-choice advocate would face a lower burden in persuading others.

Lawyering is the ability to induce change with words. The effort required to change abortion rights through functional words, not through judicial nonsense, is substantial. But it is not impossible. Arnold would not question pro-choice leaders establishing abortion rights through the Court. They did what they could and gained what could realistically be gained. Had they not acted then pro-lifers would have acted instead. Nevertheless, the consequence of transcendental nonsense exists.

The Consequences: The End of Abortion Rights

The consequence is an abortion right teetering on legal language. In practice this means that women’s current access to abortions is limited, and future access is not guaranteed. It does not matter that abortions are legal; even with Roe many people that need an abortion are denied for lack of means. A powerful pro-life movement is strongly motivated to change abortion rights. With the right case, Court, and social atmosphere, the legal reasoning supporting abortion can be overturned. Abortion will then have no legs to stand on, since functional language was not used to secure the right.

The disintegration is not imminent; it is happening. Several cases have broadened States’ rights to restrict when and how women can have abortions. Casey v Planned Parenthood demonstrates the precariousness of abortion rights only twenty years after they were created. Roe narrowly escaped being overturned, and the plurality indicates Roe’s law talk was not convincing. In 2007, Gonzales v Carhart “adhered to precedent” by ignoring prior holdings and banning Partial-Birth abortion. Regardless of one’s stance on the issue, it is distressing that a previously held right can be taken away when five judges stop using certain law talk.

975 words

Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (U.S. 1973) Planned Parenthood v. Casey, 510 U.S. 1309 (U.S. 1994) Gonzales v. Carhart, 127 S. Ct. 1610 (U.S. 2007)

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