In a gloriously brutal concurring opinion published Tuesday, Justice Clarence Thomas took on Planned Parenthood, the meaning of abortion, and birth control. While writing a concurring opinion in Box v. Planned Parenthood, Thomas likened abortion to eugenics and scolded Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg for nonsensical opinions in the same case.
Thomas wrote his opinion in response to the court’s opinion about Box, which addressed two provisions in an Indiana law. The first provision prohibits abortion providers from treating the bodies of aborted children as “infectious waste” and incinerating them alongside used needles and the like. The second provision “made it illegal for an abortion provider to perform an abortion in Indiana when the provider knows that the mother is seeking the abortion solely because of the child’s race, sex, diagnosis of Down syndrome, disability, or related characteristics.”
The 7th Circuit ruled these laws should be struck down. However, the Supreme Court ruled the former should be reversed and they said they wouldn’t hear the second. However, Thomas took on the second provision in his 20-page opinion, which included legal analysis, historical anecdotes, and moral indignation.
As if he had been waiting all of his 27 years on the court for the right case to come to his desk so he could unleash hell on Planned Parenthood, Thomas agreed with Indiana’s law and said, “this law and other laws like it promote a State’s compelling interest in preventing abortion from becoming a tool of modern-day eugenics.” In a lengthy diatribe connecting Planned Parenthood’s roots to cherry-picking abortionists today, he wrote:
“The use of abortion to achieve eugenic goals is not merely hypothetical. The foundations for legalizing abortion in America were laid during the early 20th-century birth-control movement. That movement developed alongside the American eugenics movement. And significantly, Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger recognized the eugenic potential of her cause. She emphasized and embraced the notion that birth control ‘opens the way to the eugenist.’”
Thomas went on like this, giving a multi-page history lesson on eugenics and birth control, occasionally excoriating Ginsburg’s opinion on this case by way of footnote — as Supreme Court justices do. Even though the court won’t hear further argument on this particular case, Thomas said the time will come. ”Given the potential for abortion to become a tool of eugenic manipulation, the Court will soon need to confront the constitutionality of laws like Indiana’s.”
Of course, conservatives were relieved to see Indiana’s law upheld, requiring aborted babies to be buried humanely, but Thomas’ one-man manifesto, a moral crusade against abortion, articulated what many pro-life advocates have believed for decades.
In a statement, Jeanne Mancini, the president of the March for Life said, “Every human life has inherent value and dignity. We welcome the Supreme Court’s ruling today in favor of a provision requiring more dignified treatment of human remains following the tragedy of abortion. We look forward to the day, too, when the Court will consider the use of abortion to eliminate persons on the basis of race, sex, or disability.”
The Left of course, has freaked out about Thomas’ opinion, particularly since he cited conservative columnist George Will. Will once said in a piece the abortion rate for children diagnosed with Down syndrome in utero in Iceland was nearly 100% (Will’s critics said the statistic was false). The Daily Beast published a piece already saying today’s opinion proves the Supreme Court “chips away at abortion.”
Well, Justice Thomas today in his crazy dissent about abortion and eugenics trotted out one of those anti-abortion myths, citing the esteemed George Will. pic.twitter.com/ilrb0sn02b
— David S. Cohen (@dsc250)
May 28, 2019
I’m glad to see a man such as Thomas, what with his quiet dignity, moral fervor, and legal chops, address the abomination that is abortion, both in terms of history and jurisprudence. More black babies are aborted in New York City than are born. Who better to speak up for them than the second African American Supreme Court justice?
Nicole Russell (@russell_nm) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. She is a journalist who previously worked in Republican politics in Minnesota.