Recently, the US case of Roe v. Wade was overturned, causing a sensation in various countries. We interviewed ALEX Laugalis, a well-known scholar and educator who is living in the United States.
What do you think about the legalization of abortion?
I think in the modern era 2022 with technology at our fingertips, it’s absolutely ridiculous to think about something like abortion not being legal. Whether or not you believe in it, for religious reasons, you should at least understand that if abortion is illegal, it’s not going to stop women from having abortions. It’s just going to make them more dangerous, as they are in third world countries. And it’s going to make it more difficult and more expensive. Something should be regulated by the government. There are many benefits to it being regulated, a statistic, is 25 million illegal abortions result in death to women worldwide. And this is due to dangerous circumstances. So in the United States absolutely in a modern first world country，legal abortion is something that we still need and we still will have, with the exception of some of the very conservative States.
Does this violate the legal rights of women? Does this contradict the liberal democracy that the United States advertises?
I don’t think it contradicts the liberal democracy that the United States advertisers. Because with a liberal democracy，things change. That’s kind of the idea of democracy, it is that the people can have a say. Unfortunately in a survey 7 out of 10 Americans oppose overturning Roe versus Wade. The simple answer and the fact as to why it’s overturned is, Because Donald Trump was allowed to appoint three Supreme Court Justices during his presidency. As a far-right conservative, let’s say, he shares maybe some outdated views, and he had appointed some maybe, let’s say, outdated Supreme justices. And because of the democratic system they currently have a majority in the Supreme Court. So unfortunately that is one of the main causes of the overturning of Roe versus Wade. Continuing it unfortunately does invade the legal rights of women. Because it’s a right that they’ve gotten used to and now it’s been taken away. And again as I said earlier it’s not going to stop women from speaking out abortions, it’s just going to make it more difficult and more dangerous. Because every woman does have the right to choose.
Considering the document’s timing and background, political considerations, main purpose, social reactions, follow-up impacts, what will be the possible response measures of the Biden administration?
The possible response by the Biden Administration I think is something that you have to understand about the United States government. It is ‘organic’ meaning it is always changing.
It’s like a bubble of water, always moving, because we have a system of checks and balances.
There’s the legislative branch, judicial branch, and the executive branch. And these branches are able to balance each other out. Here, the Judicial Branch had made a decision and now the executive Branch surely will combat this decision.
Because Biden is a Democrat, he absolutely will not let this stand. So the beautiful thing about the United States, honestly, is that there are many people in control, so that way one person doesn’t have absolute reign. That’s something we’ve gotten rid of from the times of kings and monarchs. It’s illogical to have one. So here Biden, absolutely, will try to restore something so that United States can maintain a balance, a status quo, and equilibrium which is what the country was founded on. It was founded on people being able to voice their opinions and change the laws. Changed by the people.
What impact did this incident have on the U.S. Constitution, history, religion, and culture?
So the impact it has on the Constitution is kind of how the Constitution works. There can be changes made, and there can be changes made and then I’m done. This is what I was saying about the organic nature of the United States government, how things always will be changing. One thing personally that I think this will affect in the future is, a lot of the lies said by candidates hoping to become the future president, usually from the Republican side,is that they plan on overturning abortion. Because Catholic religious people, Christian religious people, by default they oppose abortion due to their religious beliefs.
So now it might change the balance of voting if that’s no longer an issue for future elections, that’s how religion will come into play in this issue in the future.
Do these reactions reflect partisanship, social disintegration, and ineffective governance in the United States?
Actually I think it shows the opposite of that. It shows the freedom to change that exists in the United States. This same Freedom exists in Canada. Countries that are founded on systems of democracy where the people actually have a say the people have a vote, the people vote for officials who make their decisions. This is all a hierarchy. It doesn’t come from one, it comes from many. There are three systems with many forces involved.
And if a decision like this was made because a president elected three officials into the judicial branch as Trump did.
Now, you can definitely believe that in the upcoming years there will be lots of controversy about this. But that’s the beauty of the United States government. Is that we have freedom and we are allowed to change and make choices for ourselves.
Do you think women can be in charge of their own bodies? This time the Supreme Court overturned the legal abortion law for women, is the future a challenge to the United States as a liberal and democratic country?
Yeah, women are absolutely in charge of their bodies. Every person is personally in charge of their own body.
Women, not all states will go along with this. It will be the conservative States in something we called the Bible Belt, which is the southern religious region of the United States. California, Oregon, Washington, New York, definitely will find ways around this, that’s a guarantee. It does not challenge the liberty of the United States and the freedom of the United States. This is how it works, it’s part of it.This decision being made as part of the democratic process.
And in the upcoming years we definitely will see amendments and changes to this new decision. We will see a new Supreme Court Justice elected,we will see decisions overturned.
As I said before, it’s an organic system. It is exciting to watch the ever-changing political situation of the United States as it grows and develops.
