Precedents

 

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

Then how the reindeer loved him
As they shouted out with glee
"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
You'll go down in history"

Is history a good way to make laws?

Arguing that there is no historical precedent for a law is silly. If that were true, then there would be no ”firsts” because if it were not done before, then there IS  no historical precedent. There ARE historical precedents for legal instances of slavery, genocide, segregation, primo geniture, witch burning, etc. and none of those practices are considered to be acceptable today. Looking at the historical record should not preserve those actions. The Constitution was ratified by individual states and their people to transfer power to a federal government. However individuals in those states recognized the danger of this and did not ratify the Constitution without guaranteeing  certain rights which the individuals did NOT surrender to the government. That is what the Bill of Rights is all about. One of those “Rights” was the Ninth Amendment which reads.

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

The People wanted to ensure that if they forgot to list a right in the Constitution, that right should NOT be construed as being surrendered to the State. A right does not have to be listed in the Constitution, or the historical record, to be a right retained by the People. Abortion may not be listed in the Constitution, but it  also "forgot" to list cell phones, the internet, internal combustion engines, refrigeration, air conditioning, automobiles, etc. because none of those existed at the time the Constitution was written.

Abortion might be one of those unlisted rights, but it is already protected. Life begins at conception, but legal personhood under the Constitution begins at Birth, NOT Conception. The unborn fetus has moral rights before birth, but it has no constitutional rights before birth. Forcing a woman to carry a fetus to term is taking a woman’s womb until birth by the government without compensation. That action by the state is constitutionally forbidden. Does the state have the right, and responsibility, to protect a viable fetus? Absolutely! That fetus, if viable, is one of the People. Before viability? Not legally one of the People.