Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 19, 1992 TAG: 9201190079
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The Baltimore Sun
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
HIGH COURT MAY BE AT MILESTONE IN ABORTION SAGA
Almost exactly 19 years after Roe vs. Wade, the Supreme Court appears poised to act on the most important abortion case since that first one - thus giving pregnant women a new signal about their rights, and almost forcing politicians to talk more about that.As early as Tuesday, the court could say whether it is ready to reconsider the 1973 Roe decision.
That decision seems very much under siege, threatened with actual or near extinction, as the justices prepare to act right in the middle of this week's Roe anniversary, and then in the midst of this year's presidential campaign.
Seldom does the court do something that moves it from the sidelines of political battle close to the center of the fray.
There apparently is a real chance it will do just that on the abortion controversy this winter.
Roe vs. Wade was decided 19 years ago, as of Wednesday. It was a historic ruling that created a whole new constitutional right and set off a seemingly unending battle in the streets, legislatures and courts.
Activists on both sides of this deep social controversy will stage their usual marches, rallies and other events Wednesday to mark Roe's anniversary. But the court may take a step itself Tuesday, and steal the show.
No one other than the justices and a few court aides know whether the court will do anything, what it would do, and when it would do it. But all the legal arrangements are in place for the court to say, this week if it wishes, whether it is going to review a major new abortion case from Pennsylvania. It involves two state anti-abortion laws, most parts of which were upheld by a federal appeals court in October.
That case comes the closest that any has to testing the court's willingness to overturn Roe vs. Wade outright.
If the court is going to rule on abortion during its current term - and almost everyone who has been paying attention seems to think it will - it must take its initial action on the Pennsylvania case this month. Other abortion cases are in the judicial mill, but only the Pennsylvania case is ready for the justices.
The court's schedule for the current term is such that time is running out; the court finishes its hearings in April, and lawyers must be told this week or next whether to start getting ready to argue cases in those final public sittings.
To be sure, the justices do not have to act on any case according to a timetable, and they do not have to explain if they choose to remain silent over the next two weeks. If they do, however, the experts will begin speculating that the justices will stay out of the abortion controversy for this term, waiting until a new term starts in October.
Activists who support abortion rights are all poised, in fact, to accuse the conservative court of taking a political dive if it leaves the issue untouched this month - supposedly, a gesture of avoidance so as not to complicate President Bush's run for reelection.
Abortion apparently is going to be a big issue in the presidential campaign, but political experts say it will grow to even greater prominence if American voters see the Supreme Court - during the presidential primaries - moving toward a possible decision against abortion.
Dick Moe, a Washington lawyer, adviser to the Democratic presidential campaign of Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton, a 30-year veteran in politics, and a former aide to ex-Vice President Walter Mondale, says it would be "a major forcing political event" for the court to be preparing to rule on abortion this year.
"It's as certain as the night follows the day that it will energize the women and others in this country" who favor abortion rights, Moe said. The issue, he added, would be "put right smack in the middle of the debate" among those seeking the presidency.
Bush is opposed strongly to abortion and to the Roe decision remaining on the books, and all the current Democratic candidates are in favor of abortion rights. But Republican advisers - and, reportedly, Bush himself - would like the issue to be far less prominent, and perhaps to go away altogether, this year.
Whatever Bush may say personally, his Justice Department will be under pressure from the president's supporters among groups opposing abortion rights to repeat its past plea to the court to overturn Roe. The department is expected to take a stance this spring on the Pennsylvania case.
Whatever the expectations about the political impact of court review of the Pennsylvania case, that process itself will help to keep the issue on the evening TV news shows and on the front pages of newspapers. At critical points during the presidential primary season, the court's process would put the new case back in the headlines.
And, a final ruling would come just before the two political parties go to their nominating conventions.