Abortion Should be Protected by the 8th Amendment

ABORTION RIGHTS PROTECTED BY EIGHTH AMMENDMENT Contrary to conservatives’ opinions, a woman’s rights to an abortion should be guaranteed by the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution. The amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. The question is: does the conservative majority of this Court have the integrity and courage to do the right thing? Carrying a child to term is a burden to a woman: physically, emotionally and financially. It is even more of a burden if the woman, or perhaps a minor as young as 10-12 years old, is the victim of rape and/or incest. Forcing a woman against her will to carry a product of rape or incest to term is something one could expect from a brutal and misogynistic terrorist organization such as Boko Haram, not the legislature of a US state. To force a woman to endure that physical, emotional and financial burden against her will, especially in the case of a minor or rape or incest, is the epitome of cruel and unusual punishment. The Supreme Court has, in the past, halted the execution of a single convicted criminal on the grounds of the Eighth Amendment. They should surely reject the the Mississippi abortion law and its clones on behalf of a whole class of innocent individuals - women. Roe v Wade does not force women to have an abortion but allowing these laws to stand will force women to have a child against their express wishes. Ending Roe v Wade will cement this Supreme Court’s reputation as the most political and injudicious in history.