The Kavanaugh-Ford hearings had nothing to do with violence against women.  It's really a debate about Roe v. Wade, the infamous decision that created "a right" to an abortion.

Sadly, Roe did not settle the debate.  In fact, we've been fighting over the decision ever since, as David Brooks wrote earlier this year reacting to abortion after 20 weeks vote in the House:

Let me start with some history.  Before Roe. v. Wade, the abortion debate looked nothing like it does today.  Many leading anti-abortion groups were on the left.  The first pro-life rally on the National Mall was organized by the National Youth Pro-Life Coalition, which a co-founder described as "an extremely liberal group." 

The National Catholic Welfare Conference endorsed a platform that included a right to a living wage, a right to collective bargaining and a right to life from the moment of conception.

In 1971, Ted Kennedy could declare, "Wanted or unwanted, I believe that human life, even at its earliest stages, has certain rights which must be recognized – the right to be born, the right to love, the right to grow old." 

And in the 1960s, conservative states like Mississippi, Georgia and Kansas passed laws legalizing abortion.

In 1973, Roe v. Wade changed all this.  At first, people didn't understand what the decision meant.  "Plainly," Chief Justice Warren Burger wrote, "the court today rejects any claim that the Constitution requires abortion on demand."

But then everything polarized.  The pro-life movement grew on the right and withered on the left.  Republicans introduced an anti-abortion plank into their platform in 1976.  A new electoral coalition was born.

And here we are: every Republican nomination to the Supreme Court is now a ruthless battle over abortion.  The Democrats are worried that a right is going to be taken away.  On our side, we'd rather see the issue settled by voters.

I hope that Justices Kagan and Sotomayor are watching this madness.  They may do the country a lot of good to overturn Roe and stop this.

Last, but not least, a lot of technology has changed since Roe in 1973.  We can hear a heartbeat and see photos of a baby in the womb today.

What do we have to show for Roe?  Sixty million abortions and good people like Judge Kavanaugh being slaughtered in public just because they believe that voters, not justices, should decide these issues.

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