Brooks: Ideal Legislative Solution on Abortion Is ‘Where Europe Is’

On Friday’s “PBS NewsHour,” New York Times columnist David Brooks said that in an ideal world, if the abortion issue is put to state legislatures, “we would wind up where Europe is” on abortion “where they say, there are strong arguments here, let’s try to find some way to reconcile.”

Brooks stated, “[W]hile a clear majority support Roe, a clear majority oppose abortions — or support abortion restrictions after the first trimester. … And there’s no gender gap particularly on this issue. Women and men are more or less in the same camp. And so, you could say, should we support Roe, but then, if it goes back to the voters in the state legislatures, and they start acting, in theory, in my ideal world, in PBS world, it goes back to the voters, and the majority is sort of in the middle there. They want some restrictions, but not all the way through. And so, in our ideal world, we have a debate. And I happen to think this is an issue on which both sides have extremely powerful arguments. … And so, if we had a good democracy, we would wind up where Europe is, where they say, there are strong arguments here, let’s try to find some way to reconcile. And I’m not sure we live in that world anymore. And so, I think the most likely outcome is that the red states go radically one way and the blue states go radically the other way.”

He later added, “[Y]ou can think the Constitution doesn’t guarantee it, but people should have it. And that, in an ideal world, is what happens if it goes back to the state legislatures.”

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