FROM THE PRESIDENT; ALL THE TROUBLE WITH ROE--FOR PRO-ABORTIONISTS.(Editorial)

[The] process [of confirming nominees to the Supreme Court] will cast abortion-rights supporters as intolerant of those who disagree with them.

By removing the [abortion] issue from the policy arena, the Supreme Court has prevented abortion-rights supporters from winning a debate in which public opinion favors them.

Since its inception Roe has had a deep legitimacy problem, stemming from its weakness as a legal opinion. [A]n enormous body of academic literature has tried to put the right to abortion on firmer legal ground. But thousands of pages of scholarship notwithstanding, the right to abortion remains constitutionally shaky; abortion policy is a question that the Constitution--even broadly construed--cannot convincingly be read to resolve.

Consequently, a pro-lifer who complains that she never got her democratic say before abortion was legalized nationwide, has a powerful grievance.

One effect of Roe was to mobilize a permanent constituency for criminalizing abortion. So although Roe created the right to choose, that right exists under perpetual threat of obliteration, and depends on the composition of the Supreme Court at any moment.

Meanwhile, Roe gives pro-life politicians a free pass. [I]n Gallup polling since 1975 about 80 percent favored either legal abortion in all circumstances (21 to 34 percent) or legal abortion under some circumstances (48 to 61 percent). Although a plurality of Americans appear to favor abortion rights more limited than what Roe guarantees, significantly more voters describe themselves as "pro-choice" than "pro-life."

Liberals should be salivating at their electoral prospects in a post-Roe world. The simple fact is that a majority of Americans want abortion legal at least some of the time, and the majority in a democracy tends to get what it wants.