As I was reading the OTHER thread dealing with Roe v Wade- I thought that this may be a watershed moment in American politics as we move further to the right and closer to a Theocracy-

So my question is-

If Roe v Wade is overturned, what will be the ramifications for the country itself, beyond the politics of the Republican party

If Roe v Wade is overturned, what will be the ramifications for the country itself, beyond the politics of the Republican party

Well, first of all, I don't think the country would become any more "theocratic" as a result, simply because the people don't really have much of a taste for that. As for the implications for abortion itself, I recall watching the Jim Lerher News Hour the other night, and Mark Shields (their stock liberal commentator) was basically resigning himself to the fact that Roe will probably be overturned. He said that a process of liberalization of abortion laws had already been taking place before the Supreme Court intervened in '73, and that the process would likely continue should the court reverse itself (and I agree with him on that). If a few states here and there continued to outlaw it, it would still be legal in most states.

I know we had another thread about a month or so ago, dealing with the question of whether the states that kept it illegal would have any effective means of punishing women who get them out-of-state, and most of us, myself included, agreed that it's not too likely. What I think would be the most likely effects of overturning Roe would be a proliferation of common-sense regulations that enjoy very broad public support, such as parental-notification laws (ones that actually work, that is), and near-total bans on late-term abortions that aren't riddled with so many loopholes as to render them mostly meaningless.

No big change in states that already have "liberal" abortion laws; huge change in states that have (or want to have) "conservative" abortion laws. A total ban (except maybe for the usual rape/incest/life of the mother exceptions) in Utah, Alabama, maybe a few other states in the Bible Belt. (Yeah, I know Utah isn't in the Bible Belt, but it has a uniquely religion-centered state government.)

In some middle-of-the-road states, this becomes THE big issue in state politics.

In some states banning abortion, there will be sort of an "underground railroad" of people who will help women get "under-the-counter" abortions. There will also be "overground" organizations that will help women to get transportation into "liberal" states.

More broadly, once the Religious Right wins one of their big fights, they will turn to other fights. Probably the next big target would be the schools, both for prayer and for "intelligent design" in science classes. They have already pretty much won the fight over same-sex marriage (at least in the short term.)

My thought is that with the overturn of roe v wade is that the federal goverment would make it illegal in any state- since we have pretty much religious rights in power from top to bottom in the federal goverment- and thier continued fight to erode any checks and balances in order to forward thier religious agenda.

Is there anything to stop them from making it illegal in any state?

I can't quite agree (and, believe me, the Religious Right is the antithesis of everything I believe.) I think any federal attempt to ban abortion (or to restrict it very heavily) would run into a huge backlash, and would be defeated. It would make more sense for them to fight state-by-state, where they are certain to win in some states, and stand a pretty good chance of winning in many states.

As much as I disdain the Religious Right, they do not have quite that much power, not even within the GOP.

Simple, depending on what basis the decision is overturned.

If its overturned because SCOTUS determines that the unborn child is, in fact, a person, then not only will a federal ban come down, it would be required by the Constitution.

If, as is more likely, it is overturned with a finding that crafting rights out of emanations and penumbras don't make for legitimate rights, then the issue is remanded to the states, as it was prior to Roe v Wade. Any federal law attempting ban abortion could be challenged on the basis of federalism. Of course, the Left/Liberals have done such a dandy job of gutting state's rights over the course of the last 70 years that such a challenge may fail. Ironically, in their favor will be the court's apparent willingness to ignore precedent and actually rule simply on the merits of the case relative to the Constitution.

All in all, it will make for interesting times.