Quick and frequent resort to slippery-slope arguments are often a sign of political weakness. When social conservatives argued that support for same-sex marriage logically entailed support for polygamy, too, it “meant that gay marriage was not self-evidently objectionable, but had to be condemned because it would lead to other, more objectionable things” (to quote something I wrote way back in 2003).
So it’s interesting, and I think heartening, that supporters of Roe are placing so much weight on the argument that Griswold and Obergefell will fall next. I have a column today arguing that these results are unlikely: The campaign against Roe had some advantages going for it that the campaign against Griswold, for example, doesn’t. (Such as existing: There is no campaign against Griswold.)
My conclusion: “Roe may be on its way out. But social conservatives are still under political and institutional constraints that would keep them from undoing social liberalism across the board even if they wanted to. The sexual revolution is not going to be repealed.”