Lissome Law department

As we move towards an era of more conservative courts, the threat of overturning Roe v. Wade becomes a clear and present concern. It is instructive to read what a former gynecologist has to say during the times when abortion was considered illegal.

Almost any implement you can imagine had been and was used to start an abortion — darning needles, crochet hooks, cut-glass salt shakers, soda bottles, sometimes intact, sometimes with the top broken off. Another method that I did not encounter, but heard about from colleagues in other hospitals, was a soap solution forced through the cervical canal with a syringe.

The worst case I saw, and one I hope no one else will ever have to face, was that of a nurse who was admitted with what looked like a partly delivered umbilical cord. Yet as soon as we examined her, we realized that what we thought was the cord was in fact part of her intestine, which had been hooked and torn by whatever implement had been used in the abortion. It took six hours of surgery to remove the infected uterus and ovaries and repair the part of the bowel that was still functional.

A paper by Richard Posner, a judge who sits on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and William Landes, a law professor at the University of Chicago estimateed that four of the five most conservative justices to serve on the Supreme Court since Franklin Roosevelt are currently sitting on the bench today. Full ranking at the end of this article:.

Francis Picabia, 'MI', oil and crayon on panel, 63" X 37", 1929 (from a Christie's auction booklet)

Reckless disregard

It is very difficult to rationalize our collective decision to put someone to death for crimes against society. Currently the penalty cannot be applied in cases of person-on-person violence other than murder or reckless disregard for life. The Supreme Court heard arguments on Mr. Patrick Kennedy’s case yesterday and the seems to be hopelessly divided. It is a difficult case if one goes into the details.

(From the case details here).

Patrick Kennedy was convicted in 2003 for the aggravated rape on March 2, 1998 of his then eight-year-old stepdaughter, then sentenced under a 1995 Louisiana law that allows the death penalty for the rape of a child under the age of 12.

The victim said that she woke up, watched television, and ate breakfast, which was prepared by the defendant, whom she called “Daddy”. The victim, who was eight when raped and nearly fourteen years old at the time of trial, took the stand during the fifth day of testimony. After some brief questions about her age, the State asked “Do you remember what happened to you in 1998,” to which the victim answered “yes.” When asked to tell what happened, the victim stated “I woke up one morning and Daddy was on top of me...”

Isn’t this reckless disregard for life? The votes are to be cast tomorrow that will test the constitutionality of the death penalty for the crime of raping a child. The Scotus blog covers it in detail and I am sure will follow this to its logical or illogical end…