David Brooks' fact free zone: About Brooks' most recent NYTimes Op-Ed,
Roe's Birth, and Death | David Brooks writes | The facts are |
| When Blackmun wrote the Roe decision, it took the abortion issue out of the legislatures and put it into the courts. | REF The Court ruled that the state cannot restrict a woman's right to an abortion during the first trimester, the state can regulate the abortion procedure during the second trimester "in ways that are reasonably related to maternal health," and in the third trimester, demarcating the viability of the fetus, a state can choose to restrict or even to proscribe abortion as it sees fit. |
| ... Blackmun and his concurring colleagues invented a right to abortion, and imposed a solution more extreme than the policies of just about any other comparable nation. | REF
Legend - Yes - Legal, No - Illegal, Varies - Varies by regions
- * - Legal during 1st trimester only (exact date may vary)
| Country | To Protect Mother's Life | Physical Health | Mental Health | Rape | Fetal Defects | Socio-economic factors | On Demand | | Austria | Yes | Yes | Yes | * | Yes | * | * | | Belgium | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Canada | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Denmark | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Finland | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | | France | Yes | Yes | Yes | * | Yes | * | * | | Germany | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Greece | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Hungary | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Iceland | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | | Italy | Yes | Yes | Yes | * | Yes | * | * | | Latvia | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Netherlands | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Norway | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Sweden | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | United States | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Varies | |
| Over the past four years Democrats have resorted to the filibuster again and again to prevent votes on judicial nominees they oppose. Up until now, minorities have generally not used the filibuster to defeat nominees that have majority support. | REF1 (Richard Paez) REF2 (Marsha Berzon) Over the past five years Republicans and Democrats have resorted to the filibuster again and again to prevent votes on judicial nominees they oppose. |
UPDATE: Michael Bérubé looks at how Brooks
would have written his essay - using the same logic - about other legal issues forty or fifty years ago.
posted by Quiddity at 4/21/2005 01:23:00 AM
Thank you - I've longed to see junk writing in the Times taken point by point in tabular fashion.
