Family Law, Abortion, Grace and Jim Caviezel

Family law has been dramatically affected by the constitutional right to abortion.  It has changed relationships between husbands and wives, parents and children, and romance itself.  Read more at the most recent issue of the Washington & Lee Law Review on the 40th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade, at "Roe's Effects on Family Law," at  

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2441274.  These effects have changed the way individuals think about families.

 

Actor Jim Caviezel discusses these facts about abortion, particularly how abortion harms individuals and relationships.  He also discusses, however, how grace can change a regrettable decision.  Watch his interview at 

http://viralvita.com/video/ever-had-an-abortion-jim-caviezel-has-a-message-for-you-that-will-rock-your-world#.U3Or8NIZicA.facebook.

 

Family law balances two distinct and opposite ends of liberty interests, both of which are of paramount importance to the state: the preservation of family privacy and the protection of individual members of a family. The competition between these two positions has been highlighted in the wake of Roe v. Wade.  Indeed, family law has experienced some dramatic changes in the forty years since this landmark decision. The ease of obtaining a divorce has increased, while the statutory requirements for entering into marriage are undergoing alteration, and more individuals are opting out of marriage in favor of cohabitation. Parenting rights and duties have changed, and rights and privileges of children have been altered. The article at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2441274 examines whether, how, and why any of those changes are related to Roe. 

 

Discussing changes to the parent-child relationship,  it investigates the regulation of parenting rights, duties, and choices, and the liberty interests of children to receive loving and valued parenting, using both statutory code and popular jurisprudence. It also considers the changes in marriage since Roe, examining marriage rights and privileges, focusing on how spousal roles are different than they were prior to Roe.  Furthermore, relationships between members within a household, sexuality regulation, and judicial decision-making in intimate partners and family law have been altered. 

 

The article at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2441274 illustrates that Roe has diminished romance in ways just now becoming apparent.

 

Abortion's effect on family law  is undeniable; but God's grace is irresistible.