WHAT ROE VS. WADE DID NOT SAY

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, January 29, 1993                   TAG: 9301290431
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
WHAT ROE VS. WADE DID NOT SAY
I AM WRITING in response to Andrea Sexton's commentary Jan. 22 concerning the 20th anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade decision:
In her commentary, Ms. Sexton misstates the holding and implications of that decision. Whatever position one takes on this divisive issue, I think it is important that one clearly understands what position the Supreme Court actually took in that case.
Sexton begins by stating that 20 years ago the court established "the right to abortion on demand throughout pregnancy." If she is referring to the Roe decision, she is wrong. In that case, Justice Blackmun established a trimester framework that sought to balance a woman's right to privacy in the abortion decision against the state's interest in protecting the life and health of the mother, and the state's interest in protecting "potential life." (Blackmun denies both the claim that women have an absolute right in this area and that the fetus has any rights according to the U.S. Constitution.)
According to the framework Blackmun developed in his opinion, during the first trimester a woman has an unfettered right to choose to have an abortion; during the second trimester the state can regulate this decision to protect the life and health of the mother; and during the third trimester, Blackmun writes, "the State in promoting its interest in the potentiality of human life may, if it chooses, regulate and even proscribe, abortion except where it is necessary . . . for the preservation of the life or health of the mother" (my emphasis).
Contrary to Sexton's claim, there is no constitutional right to an abortion throughout the pregnancy. Such unlimited access to abortion exists only in states that choose not to prohibit abortions during the third trimester. But according to Roe vs. Wade, there are no constitutional obstacles that would prevent states from enacting such prohibitions during the late stages of pregnancy. THOMAS F. TIERNEY PEARISBURG

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB