I'm not a big Hillary Clinton fan but...

[smoothmoniker]

To what extent should the courts be a distillation of public opinion on a moral issue, and to what extent should they lead opinion?

Clearly changing the public sentiment on a complex moral issue like abortion is much harder than getting a few judges into place on the right bench; is judicial activism ever a proper use of the court?

Think about the civil rights charge. The courts stood well in front of the public sentiment in many parts of the country, and yet I think most people would argue that it was the right move. The intervention of the courts was a necessary step in order to both safeguard the immediate rights of the minority population, and also to impose a behavioral injunction on the majority population that I think has been very successful in changing a generation's view of race.

I don't know that the crusade against abortion will be as well fought along those lines. I think the explosion of "pro-life" crisis pregnancy centers is a great example of the best possible way approach this problem. Do you believe that abortion is morally wrong, and the worst possible choice for both mother and child? Then give the mother real options! These place provides counseling, prenatal care, in many instances they can provide housing and financial support for mothers who are unable to remain in their present circumstances (kicked out of the house, abusive spouse, etc.); then they help the mother through the adoption process if she chooses not to raise the baby herself.

This is an answer that both reduces the number of abortions (isn't that the real goal?) by giving compassionate support for other real options, and also changes the public sentiment by demonstrating a face to the pro-life movement that isn't waving bloody signs and harassing women walking into clinics already under great duress.

I guess this long rambling post boils down to this - I am staunchly pro-life, but my goal is to lower the number of mothers who choose abortion, and I think changing public sentiment and offering real alternatives is a much more effective way to do that than getting a few judges on the right bench.

-sm