Leaving aside the main point (the criminality of killing an unborn child
without the mother’s permission), and the meta-point (the federalizing
thereof), is anyone else as irritated as I am by this tagging of legislation
with the names of victims? “Megan’s Law,” … “The Ryan White Act” (which,
as Michael Fumento noted, would more rationally be named “The Robert
Mapplethorpe Act”),… Now we have “Laci and Connor’s Law.” Doesn’t anyone
feel, as I do, that it subtracts from the cold majesty of the law to
personalize and sentimentalize legislative acts in this way? Even less
personal, but still sentimental, epithets like “The No Child Left Behind
Act” give me the creeps. Can’t we just have bland, legal-sounding laws?
Watching the signing ceremony for “Laci and Connor” on the telly, I found
myself waiting for the hankies to come out. The State is the cold, stern
guardian of our rights and liberties, not a frigging psychoanalyst leading
Group.