As this issue goes to press, Sam Alito is being questioned by the Senate judiciary committee. Predictably, several senators have asked for the nominee’s thoughts on abortion. It would be nice if we could settle the question of the constitutionality of abortion with a constitutional amendment. Post-Roe America has a moderate pro-choice consensus. America is ready.
I propose an amendment with unambiguous language that will settle the question once and for all. How about this: “Well-regulated reproduction being necessary to the health and safety of free women, the right of free people to procure abortions shall not be infringed.”
This clear language permits no room for pro-lifers to weasel around the amendment’s intent. It definitively states that abortion is a right enjoyed by individual women, not by “the state” on behalf of individual women. The right to abortion is not subject to abridgment merely because it offends any- one’s ethical sensibilities. It”shall not be infringed,” period.
That’ll work, right?
