How the Supreme Court recalibrated the abortion debate in just 3 words

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Three words, “unborn human being,” that appear in the Supreme Court's majority opinion on overturning Roe v. Wade have strong Christian overtones, religion experts say.

wtop.com
How the Supreme Court recalibrated the abortion debate in just 3 words | WTOP News
It’s not just that US Supreme Court majorities upheld Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban and overturned Roe v. Wade. The opinion also

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[unblock]

1. I'm getting tired of right-wing extremism being characterized was merely "Christian"

I'm not Christian, but I've known plenty of Christians who do not believe any many of these right-wing extremist views. Yes, these right-wing extremists point to the Bible and their religious beliefs, but they are hardly universally shared even among all christians.

Never mind Jews, Muslims, nones, etc.

[Mike Nelson]

2. Well...

... the point is understandable, and the words suggest a "Personhood" future - but the idea isn't necessarily Christian. My Sunday school past told me life begins at birth - when God gives you breath.

[sanatanadharma]

3. As a Hindu, my deeply held religous belief understands:

Every newly incarnate life has as pre-existent condition, previous births.
Every life incarnates within its own karmic-setup.
Everyone's karma needs to be respected, whether it is the one needing 8 decades to unravel the karmic knot, or the one who can get it done in 8 weeks.

[regnaD kciN]

4. I was expecting something like this from SCOTUS...

I was thinking they’d invoke “natural law” to declare fertilized eggs to be humans, but this is just a more subtle way of doing it.

But this article misses the point of such a shift. Although the Dobbs ruling “returned the issue to elected representatives,” this, in fact, opens the door to an outright ban. All it takes is a D.A. in a red part of a blue state to charge the woman and doctor with first-degree murder, on the grounds that existing homicide laws already criminalize the killing of a “human being,” and that precedent now declares embryos to qualify. If such a case gets brought before the Supreme Court, is anyone confident they wouldn’t uphold it?

[ShazzieB]

5. They knew better than to invoke "natural law."

That would have sounded too overtly Catholic. The Catholic Church doesn't have a monopoly on the concept of "natural law," and it didn't originate with the Church, but it has a central place in catholic theology and forms the basis of many key teachings, including the prohibitions on both abortion and birth control.

"Unborn human being" is more subtle, and it doen't scream, "Catholic!" in quite the same wat "natural law" would. It was a shrewd choice, imo.

I agree about how it sets the stage for future cases. When (not if) what you describe happens, it'll all depend on the makeup of the court at that time. The implications are terrifying.