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Heat. There were other unexplored implications as well. With the court's latest strengthening of the constitutional right to privacy, lawyers will doubtless try to use it to limit other kinds of government intrusions—a cause that is one of those closest to the hearts of conservatives. The decision also left open two lesser problems related to abortion. Washington and other states require the consent of the woman's husband, if she has one, or, in the case of a minor, the consent of her parents. The court specifically put aside the question of a father's right for another day. Nor did it discuss the minor's situation, though some legal experts concluded that parental consent can probably be required by the states, just as it now is for other surgery.
For all the uncertainties, it is clear that the U.S. now stands among those nations—Japan, India, the Soviet Union and the majority of Eastern European countries—where abortion is most free ly available. It is still too early to measure the full impact of that fact. A stark drop in adoptable babies seems certain. Perhaps, also, the need for welfare payments to dependent children will be reduced. And then there is the reaction of average Americans who can form the final court of appeal. If Catholics and other abortion foes do press strongly for a constitutional amendment, as threatened, the states could overturn the Supreme Court's ruling.
No one can predict how successful such an effort would be, but obviously the abortion decision, like those on school prayer, desegregation and criminal rights, has once again brought the court under heated criticism. To many U.S. citizens, there seems little difference between the abortion ruling of President Nixon's "strict constructionist" judges and those of the more liberal Warren era that so taxed the court's popularity. At week's end a Gallup poll reported that in a sampling taken shortly before the court's decision, 46% had favored leaving abortion to the woman and her doctor in the first three months; 45% had opposed the idea. Such a close division of sentiment can only ensure that while the matter has been settled legally, it remains a lightning rod for intense national debate.
*A recent study showed only six deaths among 73,000 legal abortions performed in 66 U.S. medical institutions in 1970 and 1971. The U.S. maternal mortality rate: 24.7 per 100,000 births.