OPINION:
Constitutionally, historically and legally, the issue of abortion has always belonged with the state legislatures (“‘Unacceptable’: Leading anti-abortion group rips DeSantis for not pushing for national ban,” web, July 31).
Then, in 1973, the Supreme Court usurped authority over the issue in Roe v. Wade, illegally claiming the authority to ban abortion.
Last year, the Supreme Court ruled that the earlier court had been wrong to usurp that authority, and it properly returned the authority to the people’s elected representatives in the state legislatures, where it always should have been.
The Constitution does not grant the U.S. government any authority over abortion. For Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America to call for a national ban on abortion is to do the same kind of injustice and violation of the Constitution that Roe v. Wade did.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was correct to decline to back a national abortion ban, and to instead urge the states to pass such bans.
I would welcome an amendment to the Constitution that defines life and personhood as beginning at conception (which is what science tells us), because that would involve the states and a voluntary yielding of authority on their part.
However, pro-lifers should not usurp authority the way the pro-prenatal-infanticide crowd did in 1973. Even when in pursuit of a good cause, two wrongs do not make a right.
THOMAS M. CRAWFORD
Laurel, Maryland
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