What is a right in a free society?

A right can be defined as a power or privilege held by the public as a result of a constitution, statute, judicial precedent, regulation or other type of law.

In a free society, that includes the right to be left alone by the government in the absence of a power bestowed upon it by law.

At the time the Constitution was adopted, women had the right to be free of government control over their bodies until they were “quick” with child (as evidenced by an infant stirring in the mother’s womb). That was the common law rule as set forth in Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765).

The original 13 states followed the common law, and certainly none had any other law that prohibited abortion before detectable independent movement of the infant.

During the debate over adoption of the Constitution and its first 10 amend- ments (the Bill of Rights), there was concern that specifying particular rights as being protected could mean that other rights not mentioned were not protected.

To allay that concern, James Madison proposed what became the Ninth Amendment, stated expli- citly that the enumeration of rights in the Constitution “shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”

In today’s debate, no one can convince either side when or when not there is a “right to life” or a “right to choose.”

Opposing views are deeply held, based principally on moral or religious beliefs, and cannot easily be set aside.

If we are to remain a free society, however, we must be guided by legal principles when personal ones do not illuminate the path.

If a government exercis- es its power and ends a publicly held power or privilege, a right has been denied or disparaged.

In the abortion debate, that is what has occurred.

– R. Thomas Farrar,

Miami