Re: The Right of Privacy
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Surprisingly I'm not talking about abortion.
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I just want to point out that I *hate* the fact that a LOT of people use "privacy" as a codeword for "abortion." It just reeks of intellectual dishonesty, and I've gotten blindsided by it a couple of times (e.g. right after Bush announced his cabinet I got into a discussion about Ashcroft's record on privacy. I pointed out that he was pretty decent in this respect (since he was e.g. against key escrow) and I got clobbered with a bunch of "ZOMGWTFBBQ HE HATES ABORTION RETARD").
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This is a very good comment. Though I am pro-life/anti-abortion, I too hate the way the privacy issue has been spun legally by both sides. Other pro-lifers say there is no right to privacy in the constitution, ignoring unenumerated rights and the fact that almost all individuals would consider privacy as a very basic right. And the pro-abortion crowd tries to argue as if 1) a constitutional right to privacy necessarily applies to abortion (as opposed to the primary issue being whether the unborn fetus is a person with rights), and 2) that the federal government rather than the individual states are the proper arbiter of same. Both sides have misconstrued and misused the right to privacy in the debate and litigation on abortion.
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