Religion & Law

This op-ed, by Ross Douthat, is, it seems to me, a useful reminder to those purporting to desire "common ground" and "dialogue" on abortion that:

If abortion were returned to the democratic process, this landscape would change dramatically. Arguments about whether and how to restrict abortions in the second trimester ? as many advanced democracies already do ? would replace protests over the scope of third-trimester medical exemptions.

The result would be laws with more respect for human life, a culture less inflamed by a small number of tragic cases ? and a political debate, God willing, unmarred by crimes like George Tiller?s murder.

The real obstacle to compromise, civility, and common ground, in other words', is not "conservatives'" intransigence, or their allegedly over-blunt rhetoric; it is Roe.