Abortion.

[Jonathan]

It’s interesting to see how much the debate on abortion differs between the US and say Europe.

Since 1973 when abortion became legal in USA, about 70 countries have liberalised or legalised abortion. In most cases, after all the pros and cons had been ventilated and both sides had had their says, there was a parliamentary voting or referendum on the matter and afterwards the question of abortion was settled, basically for good. This is how things are normally handled in democracies - a decision is made and the case is then dismissed. Why this isn’t the case in the US, I think is because of the Constitution.

Despite its age, the Constitution plays such an important role in American politics in ways that are hardly seen in any other country. The Constitution is almost sacred. As a result, the legal status of abortion is not up to the public to decide. In western Europe, abortion has gained legitimacy after parliamentary majority decisions but in America, the right to abortion in America is a decision based on an interpretation of the Constitution – an interpretation that can be drawn differently, by other judges in the Supreme Court in the future. So the abortion debate never dies.

In a deeply religious America, moral questions never gets technical as they tend to in Europe. Americans debate fundamental things in life much more extensively than in Europe, which is why abortion can never become a health issue in the US. Abortion becomes a question of “the right to life” or “the right to choose” and the life & death aspect is maybe the most fundamental question of all. This could be one explanation why a majority of the Americans are against abortion.


By the way, I am NOT badmouthing the Constitution if anyone thought so