Abuse of Discretion:
The Inside Story of Roe v. Wade
by Clarke D. Forsythe

How did America become one of only four nations (along with Canada, China, and North Korea) that allow abortions for any reason, at any time during pregnancy? Why do laws regulating other surgical procedures not protect women when they get an abortion? Why does "unborn human life" have status in tort, criminal, and property law cases, yet a woman and her abortionist can decide to kill a baby?

Abuse of Discretion answers those questions and more in an updated history of the January 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling. Clarke Forsythe relies on the Justices' case files and private papers, as well as oral arguments presented to the court. The Supreme Court effectively created a constitutional right where there was none, nullified state laws, and began a series of events that has led to over 40 years of controversy, disappointment, and death.

The decision referred to as Roe v. Wade actually includes another case argued and decided at the same time, Doe v. Bolton. According to Abuse of Discretion, the Supreme Court should have refused to decide the cases; sent them back to Texas and Georgia, respectively, for trial; taken another case with a trial record; or reached a narrow decision.

At a time when the public had just begun to debate abortion, the decision was taken from them. "The road to Roe was designed and built as a detour around public opinion and the democratic process," according to Forsythe. Even the Justices were unaware of the far-reaching implications of their decision.

The reader finds out just how badly the judicial system can falter: Doe and Roe lacked factual records which prevented "focus on substantive historical, medical, and constitutional issues that a lower court hearing would have provided." Abortion advocates repeated false statistics and beliefs so frequently that some of the misinformation was relied upon by the Supreme Court when deciding the cases.

Forsythe exposes abortion myths. Choosing abortion is rarely a decision made by "a woman and her doctor." It is instead made with an abortion provider -- fewer than 5% of abortions are done by a woman's own physician. Most abortions take place in abortion mills run by Planned Parenthood or at the clinics of abortion-only providers.

If Roe v. Wade were to be overturned tomorrow, abortion would not become illegal. Abortion law would simply return to the state legislatures, where decisions should have been made in the first place.

(Encounter Books, 2013, 477 pp., 27.99)