This is a difficult moment for Roe v. Wade to have fallen.
A complicated debate about life and death — involving science, law and moral philosophy — has been thrown into the middle of an escalating culture war. And intemperance is the order of the day.
Decades ago there were more pro-choice Republicans and pro-life Democrats to help blunt the partisan edge of the debate. Now, views on the topic have sorted by party and geography. The GOP has become captive to an ideology of power that often (on issues such as immigration, refugees and poverty) belies its pro-life pretenses. And many Republican state legislatures — where post-Roe legal changes will mostly play out — have become laboratories of radicalism.
