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In reply to the discussion: The GOP is headed toward Decree 770 [View all]CrispyQ
(40,837 posts)7. Forced Labor, Revisited: The Thirteenth Amendment and Abortion
I will post this in every abortion thread that I come across. I do not understand why this isn't a major argument with the pro-choice groups.
2010
Forced Labor, Revisited: The Thirteenth Amendment and Abortion
Andrew Koppelman
Northwestern University School of Law, akoppelman@law.northwestern.edu
https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1031&context=facultyworkingpapers
I. The basic argument
The Thirteenth Amendment reads as follows:
1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
2. Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
My claim is that the amendment is violated by laws that prohibit abortion. When women are compelled to carry and bear children, they are subjected to "involuntary servitude" in violation of the amendment. Abortion prohibitions violate the Amendment's guarantee of personal liberty, because forced pregnancy and childbirth, by compelling the woman to serve the fetus, creates "that control by which the personal service of one man [sic] is disposed of or coerced for another's benefit which is the essence of involuntary servitude."6
Such laws violate the amendment's guarantee of equality, because forcing women to be mothers makes them into a servant caste, a group which, by virtue of a status of birth, is held subject to a special duty to serve others and not themselves.
Forced Labor, Revisited: The Thirteenth Amendment and Abortion
Andrew Koppelman
Northwestern University School of Law, akoppelman@law.northwestern.edu
https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1031&context=facultyworkingpapers
I. The basic argument
The Thirteenth Amendment reads as follows:
1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
2. Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
My claim is that the amendment is violated by laws that prohibit abortion. When women are compelled to carry and bear children, they are subjected to "involuntary servitude" in violation of the amendment. Abortion prohibitions violate the Amendment's guarantee of personal liberty, because forced pregnancy and childbirth, by compelling the woman to serve the fetus, creates "that control by which the personal service of one man [sic] is disposed of or coerced for another's benefit which is the essence of involuntary servitude."6
Such laws violate the amendment's guarantee of equality, because forcing women to be mothers makes them into a servant caste, a group which, by virtue of a status of birth, is held subject to a special duty to serve others and not themselves.
====================================
Parents can't be compelled to donate their organs to their child, even to save the child's life. Why does a fetus have more claim on a woman's body & life, than her child who has been born?
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One insane event occurring doesn't increase the possibility of another.
bearsfootball516
Apr 2019
#19
When it's part of a general trend of stupidity, magical thinking and rage . . .
hatrack
Apr 2019
#22
It's hard to believe that I'm living in America. This is scratch your head insane.
Firestorm49
Apr 2019
#5
That's what baffles me. They have so much more to lose than those of us who don't have
smirkymonkey
Apr 2019
#16
I can just imagine Cheeto yelling "Alo! Alo!" as his crowds dispersed due to gunfire.
sandensea
Apr 2019
#15
Repeat ....A proposed law..is NOT LAW...this is definition of word: proposed..
Stuart G
Apr 2019
#24
