Why Are These People So Happy?

For some reason, the forced pregnancy lobby doesn’t understand the well-established contrarian analysis that upholding arbitrary abortion regulations is actually a good thing for reproductive freedom:

Elated and emboldened, anti-abortion activists in state after state are planning to push for stringent new limits on second- and third-trimester abortions in the hopes of building on their victory Wednesday at the Supreme Court.

By a 5-4 vote, the justices upheld a federal ban on a procedure critics call “partial-birth abortion,” which involves partially delivering the fetus, then crushing its skull. The ruling included strong language asserting the state’s “legitimate, substantial interest in preserving and promoting fetal life.”

Advocates on both sides of the abortion debate predicted the ruling would spur a flood of legislation.

“We’re moving beyond putting roadblocks in front of abortions to actually prohibiting them,” said Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue, a national anti-abortion group based in Wichita, Kan. “This swings the door wide open.”

He and other strategists said they hope to introduce legislation in a number of states that would:

— Ban all abortion of viable fetuses, unless the mother’s life is endangered.

— Ban mid- and late-term abortion for fetal abnormality, such as Down syndrome or a malformed brain.

— Require doctors to tell patients in explicit detail what the abortion will involve, show them ultrasound images of the fetus and warn them that they might become suicidal after the procedure.

— Lengthen waiting periods so women must reflect on such counseling for several days before obtaining the abortion.

Wait–some people think that the Supreme Court permitting wider state latitude to regulate abortion (for some classes of women) makes the greater regulation of abortion more likely? That doesn’t seem very logical! Hopefully Ben Wittes will talk some sense to these people.