Part 2 (1/2)

Ms. Garza stood and faced Mr. Stanton. The debate was on.

'That's bulls.h.i.+t, Stanton. The Court said abortion was not a crime at common law.'

'They lied. The only authority the Court cited were two law review articles written by the general counsel of a pro-abortion group, which articles have been roundly discredited as distortions of the common law. In order to justify their hijacking of the Const.i.tution to push their political agenda, the liberal justices misstated history by adopting one biased author's point of view.'

'History is just a point of view,' Ms. Garza said. 'Usually written by white men biased against women and minorities. The right to have an abortion was another right not mentioned in the Const.i.tution because women did not serve on the Const.i.tutional Convention. Women's voices were not heard at the time, Mr. Stanton.'

'Thank G.o.d.'

Which elicited a round of boos from the women in the cla.s.sroom. Book kicked his desk again and gestured Ms. Garza into her chair.

'Mr. Stanton, what was the key ruling of Roe?'

'That the right of privacy includes the right to have an abortion.'

'No.'

Mr. Stanton frowned.

'Ms. Garza?'

'That before viability of the unborn child, the state has no legitimate interest in the unborn.'

'The Court so held, but was that really the key ruling of the case?'

No takers.

'Come on, people, you've read the case. Think.'

Heads ducked behind the facade of laptops.

'I know you're back there. You can hide but you can't run, at least not for'-he checked the clock on the back wall-'fifteen more minutes. Was viability the key ruling of Roe?'

'No.'

A small anonymous voice.

'Who said that?'

Book searched the laptops for a face.

'Come on, fess up.'

A hand slowly rose above a laptop.

'Ms. Roberts? Was that you?'

'Unh-huh.'

Ms. Roberts peeked over her laptop on the sixth row. She had never before spoken in cla.s.s.

'Ms. Roberts, welcome to the debate. So what was the key ruling in Roe?'

She looked like the shy girl in high school who had never been on a date being asked to the prom by the football star. She took a handful of her hair hanging in her face and wrapped it around her left ear. With her index finger she pushed her black-framed gla.s.ses up on her nose. She took a deep breath then spoke in the softest of voices to the hushed cla.s.sroom.

'That under the Const.i.tution, an unborn child is not a living human being at any time prior to birth. As Justice Stevens said, it is only a, quote, ”developing organism.” Thus, the Const.i.tution offers no protection whatsoever to an unborn child.'

'Correct. Please elaborate.'

'The Fourteenth Amendment states that, quote, ”nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” Thus, if an unborn child were a ”person,” Roe's case would fail because the Fourteenth Amendment would expressly protect the unborn child's right to life. So, in order to find a right to an abortion, the Court had to first rule that an unborn child is not a ”person” under the Const.i.tution. Which is exactly how they ruled: an unborn child is not a living human being and thus abortion is not the termination of a human life.'

Ms. Roberts had found her voice after eight months of Con Law cla.s.ses. Another small victory for Professor John Bookman.

'So?'

'So, if the unborn child is not a living human being, what's growing inside the mother-a vegetable? Dogs and cats aren't persons under the Const.i.tution either, but we have laws that prevent us from killing them for sport. And this ruling seems especially cruel given that the Court had previously ruled that corporations do qualify as persons under the Fourteenth Amendment and are thus ent.i.tled to the full protection of the Const.i.tution.'

Mr. Stanton, from the back row: 'As my man Mitt said, ”Corporations are people, too.”'

Which evoked a round of laughter. Book kicked his desk again.

'People, this is important. Ms. Roberts is on to something. Listen up.' Back to Ms. Roberts. 'So corporations have more rights under the Const.i.tution than an unborn child?'

'Yes. In fact, a rock has the same const.i.tutional rights as an unborn child.'

'You're almost to the finish line, Ms. Roberts. Now tell us why that particular ruling matters.'

'Because it makes us question whether we matter. It makes us question our place in the grand scheme of things. Do human beings occupy a special place in the universe or are we just a species that has evolved to a higher state of cognitive ability than, say, chimpanzees? When our highest court of law says human beings have absolutely no rights until we're born, that delegates an unborn child to the same const.i.tutional status as an earthworm or a tomato or a-'

'Rock?'

'Yes.'

'And you think you're more important in the universe than a rock?'

'I hope so.'

'So what are the possible legal consequences of this ruling?'

'What if the unborn child has a genetic defect? Can the government force the woman to abort in order to avoid costly future treatment for that child? What if the government decides to solve poverty by inst.i.tuting mandatory abortions, like in China? New York City public schools are giving the abortion pill to eighth-grade girls without their parents' permission. When our highest court says that unborn humans are not ”persons” under the Const.i.tution and may be killed without constraint but corporations that manufacture weapons of war that kill millions of born humans are ”persons” with const.i.tutional rights, I say, Who are those guys? Why do they get to decide what is or isn't human? Who elected them G.o.d? How do we know they're right? If they're right, who are we and what are we and what is our place in the universe? Is human life nothing more than a biological coincidence? Are our lives no more important in the universe than road kill on I-Thirty-five? Do we matter? Or are we just matter?'

'And if they're wrong?'

'We're all in deep s.h.i.+t, so to speak.'

The students stared at her with stunned expressions. Except Ms. Garza. She glared at Ms. Roberts.

'What, now you're Sarah Palin? You want women to go back to coat hangers and poison?'

Ms. Roberts did not wither under Ms. Garza's hot glare.