Abortion, as always, will be one of the most contentious issues in the upcoming confirmation hearings over President Obama\u2019s nomination of Solicitor General Elena Kagan for a position on the US Supreme Court.<\/p>\n
The hearings come just weeks after the Nebraska legislature passed the strictest abortion laws in the country when it prohibited abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. This new law will probably be challenged in court, and proponents of the measure hope that the Supreme Court will eventually agree to take the case and use the opportunity to redefine life.<\/p>\n
However, instead of simply redefining life once again, the court should consider what happened with segregation as a model for acting on the abortion debate.<\/p>\n
In Roe v. Wade (1973), the Supreme Court ruled that states could ban some abortions because they \u201chave an important and legitimate interest in preserving and protecting the health of the pregnant woman [and] still another important and legitimate interest in protecting the potentiality of human life.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n