LETTER: Pro-abortion demonstrators embrace mob rule

Demonstrations on the steps of the Supreme Court over the possibility that the landmark Roe v. Wade decision might be overturned are exercises in mob rule. If abortion is to be legal, it needs to be codified in law. People who feel strongly about this issue should mobilize at the state level, where there is much greater chance of success and where the results will be more permanent.

The Constitution is the guiding document for our democratic republic and the law of our land. It has been modified by amendment sparingly and only for the most important rights that apply to all citizens, such as freedom of speech and religion and the right to vote. The Constitution is very hard to amend, for good reason.

The Constitution limits the power of the federal government. All powers, not specifically granted by the Constitution to the federal government, are to be left to the individual states to decide for themselves. The Supreme Court’s role as the third branch of the federal government is not to make law, but to evaluate the legal arguments brought to it in light of whether or not they are consistent with the Constitution. Thus the “right” to an abortion is not guaranteed in the Constitution, but rather by Supreme Court judicial precedent.

States, on the other hand, are sovereign entities whose governments respond to the will of their citizens. The individual states have been referred to as experiments in democracy. Reflecting the will of their state’s citizens, Nevada women have the right to an abortion up to 24 weeks without an extenuating circumstance. Citizens in other states have different opinions about this issue. Some have made different laws that reflect the views and preferences of their citizens.

The right (or not) to an abortion should be decided at the state level, by people who choose to live in different states for a variety of reasons, including educational preferences and tax policy or simply to be near family members. In this way, people gather with like-minded people and live the life they choose, not the life that is dictated to them by unaccountable judicial precedent.