I want you to close your eyes for a moment and imagine…wait. Don’t close your eyes. Just imagine. There is a majority of liberal justices on the bench of the United States Supreme Court. They have heard what could be a landmark case that might overturn the ruling in Roe v Wade that legalized abortion. A draft opinion by one of those liberal justices that upholds Roe v Wade. The opinion discusses how it Is wrong to force a woman to carry a fetus until she gives birth to a child. How we cannot simply create a “domestic supply of infants” to satisfy the need of children to deal with a shortage of them to be adopted by people who desire to adopt. To be clear, Justice Amy Coney Barrett did not coin that phrase. Here is that footnote, citing a CDC paper on adoption.

Imagine the hue and outcry from conservatives who were convinced they would finally achieve their long-held goal of overturning the landmark decision that Roe v Wade represents.

Now let’s take this one step further. Change the scenario to the current justices on the bench of the Supreme Court being who they are today. The draft opinion that is leaked upholds Roe v Wade and it appears from the vote that Justice Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh did as they said they would during their confirmation hearings before the U. S. Senate. Referring to Roe v Wade, Kavanaugh said: ““It is settled as a precedent of the Supreme Court, entitled the respect under principles of stare decisis,”

Would the protests outside the homes of the justices who voted in favor of the leaked opinion be as peaceful as the ones we are seeing now? I don’t think they would.

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The real problem here is we as a nation cannot agree on when a fetus should be endowed with the rights that Americans take for granted. The right to life being first and foremost among them. Is it at conception” At the point of viability outside of the mother’s womb? Or at birth? There is no consensus on this.

My belief is that no one has the right to tell a woman she must continue to carry a fetus in her womb if she has decided to end her pregnancy. It is her decision and no one else’s. That I my opinion. Opinions are neither right or wrong. They are simply opinions, based on our own beliefs and experiences.
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There is a federal statute (18 U.S.C., Section 1507) that reads as follows:

Whoever, with the intent of interfering with, obstructing, or impeding the administration of justice, or with the intent of influencing any judge, juror, witness, or court officer, in the discharge of his duty, pickets or parades in or near a building housing a court of the United States, or in or near a building or residence occupied or used by such judge, juror, witness, or court officer, or with such intent uses any sound-truck or similar device or resorts to any other demonstration in or near any such building or residence, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.

The question is intent. It would be difficult to prove that someone simply picketing in support of abortion rights had the intent of influencing a justice on an issue they have apparently already voted on.

Whatever is determined by the Supreme Court in the case where the draft opinion was leaked, this will not be a settled issue. Not unless the Democrat-controlled Senate can find a way to suspend the filibuster to pass a law codifying a woman’s right to choose.