Judging Freedom - Abortion in America Update - Oklahoma

Episode Date: May 26, 2022

Oklahoma Governor Signs Abortion Ban Legislation, which relies on private enforcement, takes effect immediately #abortionSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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one of the more popular Judging Freedom guests will be back with us, Scott Ritter, former military, former intelligence, former UN weapons inspector. You all know him. I can tell from the number of people that tune in when he's on and that email us about him, giving us his latest take on what's going on in Ukraine. We can't lose sight of what's going on in Ukraine, even though there are issues in America that are tugging our hearts and occupying our minds. One of those issues about which I spoke a few minutes ago on judging freedom, of course, is the slaughter in Uvalde, Texas. And the other is that lingering issue that's still out there about which the Supreme Court should rule any day now, but in my opinion, it will probably rule at the very end of June, and that is abortion. The reason it will rule at the end of June is twofold. One, the court has a

habit under the Chief Justiceship of John Roberts of saving the cases that are most interest to the public until the justices to overturn Roe v. Wade, is now taking this month to attempt to dissuade one of the five, where's my hand? There it is. One of the five, I don't know which one To leave the majority That would turn Justice Alito's pilfered Majority opinion Into a dissent So Chief Justice Roberts

May need the whole month to try and change That person's mind He's done this before If he changes that person's mind And Roe versus Wade is upheld, the decision will come out the minute that person changes their mind before they can change it again. If he can't change that person's mind, he'll take as much time as he has. He has until the last day of June, which is the last day of the term. That's when Justice Stephen Breyer's retirement kicks in and Justice Designate, that's her

technical title now, Katanji Brown Jackson will be sworn in as Justice Katanji Brown Jackson. While all of this is going on, and while people like I, and I did this in my column today, thoughts about Justice Alito's draft opinion, are analyzing that opinion. The states are busy at work believing that that opinion will become the law. So states like New York and New Jersey and California have enacted legislation permitting abortion at any time during the pregnancy. In New Jersey, I'm sorry to say, you know, I was a judge in New Jersey. I live in New Jersey. I'm in New Jersey now. I was born in New Jersey. I was raised in New Jersey, with the exception of my three years at law school and a

year that Fox sent me to California. I've lived my entire life in New Jersey. New Jersey permits abortion beyond after the moment of birth. California and New York, it's up to the moment of birth. There's some legislation in California, the meaning of which is ambiguous. Some of us thought the legislation would permit infanticide up to 28 days. They changed the language so as to preclude that. But there's a lot of wiggle room at or about the time of birth. The point is, the Alito draft, if it becomes the law of the land, will unleash the states to do whatever they want. New Jersey, after the moment of birth. California, New York, up to the moment of birth. No questions asked. No reason given. On the other side of that is states like Oklahoma. Yesterday, the governor of Oklahoma

signed into law a statute prohibiting all abortions at any time with the following exceptions, rape and incest, if rape and incest are reported to the police at the time of the rape and the incest, and a serious medical emergency threatening the life, not mental health or personal happiness, but the life of the mother. Those are the only three exceptions in Oklahoma. And like that Texas statute, the Oklahoma statute will be enforced by ordinary citizens suing the abortion provider. All the citizen has to do is prove that an abortion took place in the state of Oklahoma, and the abortion provider owes the suing citizen $10,000. Now, the Supreme Court refused to disturb an identical statute when Texas came up with it. I doubt they're going to disturb the statute in Oklahoma. So rather than uniting the country,

the Alito draft, and I'm not blaming Alito. Sam Alito was my boyhood friend and Princeton classmate. He believes that Roe versus Wade and the case upholding Planned Parenthood versus Casey were egregiously wrong when decided and are egregiously wrong today, and I agree with him. I would have undone Roe and Casey on a different basis, not that it's the purview of the states, but that the baby in the womb is a person. You can see how legislatures like New York, New Jersey, and California are permitting baby killing, slaughter of babies, slaughter of innocents, anticipating that that Alito draft will become the majority opinion. The 14th Amendment requires the states to protect people equally. So if the baby in the womb is a person, then the laws against homicide protect her, just like the laws against homicide protect people who

are already born. Is the baby in the womb a person? Of course the baby in the womb is a person. Many states recognize this already because a baby can inherit, a baby in the womb can inherit wealth, can sue with a guardian, can be sued with a guardian. The baby fertilized egg has all the genomic material in it needed to grow into a postnatal human being. Roe itself says, if the baby in the womb is a person, then all abortion is homicide. That's the argument that I would have followed had I been on the Supreme Court. But you can see where this is going. The liberal states will grant abortion privileges up to and after the moment of birth. The conservative states will ban it under almost every conceivable circumstance. This is a long way from over. Judge Napolitano for Judging Freedom.