Americans Support Spousal Notification for Abortion
Supreme Court nominee Judge Samuel Alito is coming under fire from abortion rights supporters for his dissent in the Planned Parenthood v. Casey case. Differing from his colleagues on the Third Circuit, Alito supported the right of the Pennsylvania state legislature to pass a spousal notification requirement for women prior to an abortion.
The Left is working to paint Alito’s decision as outside the mainstream of American opinion.
But is it?
Reporting in today’s Roll Call,[subscription required] Karlyn Bowman of the American Enterprise Institute writes that the vast majority of American people support requiring spousal notification before an abortion:
In 1992, when Gallup asked people whether they favored or opposed a law requiring that the husband of a married woman be notified if she decides to have an abortion, 73 percent said they were in favor. In 1996, 70 percent were in favor, and in 2003, 72 percent were. In each survey, about a quarter were opposed.
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Adding you to the blog roundup for today.
Charmaine,
Do you actually think women need to ask permission from their spouses prior to obtaining an abortion? Perhaps what you mean to say is that you are opposed to abortion and that if a spouse can stop a woman who desires an abortion, then that would be a good thing in your view.
If abortions are legal, then why would it be to a woman’s advantage to have to ask permission from her husband to do anything? I believe that we all are entitled to exercise the full option of legal treatments and activity without asking our spouses for permission. Otherwise, we might as well drop the right to vote for women, perhaps deny them the right to drive like they do in Saudi Arabia and maybe require them to cover up their faces in public.
The same poll you are citing says almost the same percentage don’t think Roe v Wade should be overturned. I assume you would argue that they are wrong on that issue, so what makes you think they are right on this one?
RF, you’re missing the fact that abortion involves a third party who would be the child of the husband. (The law specifically exempted women who said the baby wasn’t her husband’s.)
The law is based on the same logic as the spousal immunity — that the bond between spouses is a foundation for society.
A husband does have the right to know about an abortion because it is his child just as much as it is the wife’s. His wife shouldn’t be able to sneak behind his back to kill their child.