Ellen Goodman on why pro-lifers are so excited about Alito...

[flpoljunkie]

http://www.postwritersgroup.com/archives/good1103.htm

It tells you as well why pro-life conservatives, who never cottoned up to the "umpire'' John Roberts, call this appointment a "grand slam home run.'' It tells you why a giddy right-wing Web site, confirmthem.com, is posting the lyrics of a love song, "Alito,'' to the tune of "Maria.''

The collision came over Alito's opinion in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, a case that is becoming the most famous entry in his dossier. The Pennsylvania Legislature had written a slew of restrictions on abortion. But when the law reached the 3rd Circuit appeals court, Alito was the only member who upheld the requirement that a woman must tell her husband before she had an abortion. Alito argued that most women told their husbands anyway. He brushed aside the idea that this requirement would be a burden on women with abusive husbands. With a wink, a nod, and a footnote, he even implied that the law would be easy to get around, "difficult to enforce and easy to evade.''

The day the case was heard by the Supreme Court, O'Connor cut straight to the heart of the mandated marital talk. If a state could require a woman to notify her husband, she asked, why not her boyfriend or any other man? If a woman had to notify a man before an abortion, could she also be forced to notify a man before intercourse? "Could the state do that?'' Where exactly did a woman's rights end and state rule begin? The Supreme Court turned out to be far more sensitive to domestic abuse than Alito. "Should these women become pregnant, they may have very good reasons for not wishing to inform their husbands of their decision to obtain an abortion,'' wrote the majority.

But O'Connor understood instinctively the relationship between a woman's right to decide and her individual liberty. The opinion she wrote with Justices Kennedy and Souter said that ``the liberty of the woman is at stake in a sense unique to the human condition, and so, unique to the law. ... The destiny of the woman must be shaped to a large extent on her own conception of her spiritual imperatives and her place in society.''

[sinkingfeeling]

1. Please stop calling these people 'pro-life' when they are anti-abortion.

I know you didn't write the story, but we have to stop using their selected self-description, which is a lie.

[snowbear]

5. Yeah, really... it is a LAME phrase.. should be "Anti-Choice"

[AndyTiedye]

6. or "No Choice" or "Forced Parenthood"

:grr:

[norml]

2. Recommended!

Alito seems not to recognize any right to privacy.

[BlueJazz]

3. "and her place in society"..Oh..I get it!.

..like ah..Barefoot, pregnant and horny??

[kurth]

4. Alito is a dork with limited exposure to life

Notice he married another bookworm.