on the verge of panic

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Feb 28, 2006

The Supreme Court today ruled that federal extortion and racketeering laws cannot be used to ban demonstrations at abortion clinics. It was an 8-0 decision, in which Justice Alito did not participate. As if in anticipation of the ruling, U.S.A Today ran a breathlessly alarmist editorial yesterday pleading for the defense of Roe:

The stakes extend far beyond abortion. The notion of a constitutional right to privacy is also the barrier that prevents government meddling in other areas where sex intersects with religious belief. Before that doctrine was established, states commonly dictated what forms of sex are acceptable, even between consenting adults, and criminalized the sale or use of contraception. Unless checked, the process South Dakota is starting could lead to the most draconian rollback of personal liberties in U.S. history.

Meddling. Dictated. Draconian. How's that for objective, well-chosen language? Even the bogey of criminalized contraception makes an appearance. They're obviously running scared, and you have to wonder how long it'll be before they run Thomas Nast's famous anti-Catholic caricature (1869) of the Invasion of the Bishop-Gators -- with the Vatican, of course, ominously in the background.