We The Men Vs. We The People: Reframing The Abortion Issue To Prevent Violent Escalation of The Culture War

As White House Policy Analyst, Special Assistant to the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, and Director of the Attorney General’s Anti-Discrimination Law Review at the U.S. Department of Justice in the Reagan administration, Barbara Honegger recounts her behind the scenes experiences in the White House championing women’s reproductive and civil rights.  She reveals the attitudes and duplicity of Reagan’s staff regarding women’s rights, the so-called “ERA alternative”, the secret plot to destroy the enforcement authority of all of the civil rights statutes using the lack of women’s rights as a legal battering ram, and her public revelations in the Washington Post and resignation as a consequence.  She details her “white paper” argument for a new and more solid basis on which to secure abortion rights.

Be sure to check out the bonus track below.
Links and Resources:
  • Full Transcript
  • Judge Flaherty's Ruling [emphases and clarification text in parentheses added]:  
 "The [British and American] common law has consistently held to a rule which provides that one human being is under no legal compulsion to give aid to or to take action to save [another] human being, or to rescue. A great deal has been written regarding this rule which, on the surface, appears to be revolting in a moral sense.  Introspection, however, will demonstrate that the rule is founded upon the very essence of our free society. In preserving such a society as we have, it is bound to happen that great moral conflicts will arise and will appear harsh in a given instance... Morally, this decision [by Mr. Shimp not to grant Mr. McFall the use of his bone marrow even though not to do so would mean that Mr. McFall would i.e.] rests with the Defendant (Mr. Shimp], and, in the view of the Court, the refusal of the Defendant is morally indefensible. But for our law to compel the Defendant to submit to an intrusion of his body would change every concept and principle upon which our society is founded. To do so would defeat the sanctity of the individual and would impose a rule which would know no limits, and one could not imagine where the line would be drawn...For a society, which respects the right of one individual, to sink its teeth into the jugular vein, or neck, of one of its members, and suck from it sustenance for another member is revolting to our hard-wrought concepts of juris-prudence ... [causing] revulsion to the judicial mind.  Such would raise the specter of the Swastika and the Inquisition, reminiscent of the horrors this portends."  And, in fact, Adolf Hitler outlawed abortion -- but only for "good, Nazi Ayran" women.  
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4 Comments


d.budd, MD - December 12th, 2015 at 5:13pm

Fantastic work - big thanks for your courage and clarity. Pro-choice legal teams need to use this very articulate argument re forced organ donation to protect the value and private ownership of our dear uteri - seems like a slam dunk. Hard to believe, and quite painful, that we still need to fight this fight ~ 43 years after Roe v Wade. i remember clearly, the deaths of women trying desperately to end unwanted pregnancies. We have to prevent the recurrence of that heartbreak, that femicide. Huge appreciation; i think this qualifies you as a heroine of the revolution.

Roberto - December 23rd, 2015 at 9:16am

Form of social engineering that I believe was derived from the projections of the 1980 census that non white population would become majority by year 2050. Response to census by newly elected president Reagan was to curtail abortions because data showed that it was white middle class and not minority women who were having abortions. Population control mechanism being advocated by American right and Evangelical Christians.

susan - December 29th, 2015 at 5:40pm

Amazing interview and information. I am posting this to several FB pages, hoping that it will become widely shared. Thank you.

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