Today’s Bloomberg Opinion column* asks whether a federal ban on abortion should be on the pro-life legislative agenda now that Roe is gone–and if so, how high on that agenda it should be.
For opponents of abortion, there are weighty considerations on both sides.
Let’s start with the case for federal action. The 14th Amendment says that states must extend the equal protection of the laws to all persons and gives Congress the power of enforcement. The pro-life movement has argued that allowing states to deny unborn children protection against homicide breaks that promise. (The Republican platform has long said that the amendment’s protections should apply to the unborn.) Our country has for many decades acted on the conviction that basic human rights require federal protection. . . .
* (Not to be confused with yesterday’s post-Dobbs column.)