If half of the states are ready to [ban abortion] tomorrow, then legalizing abortion was never constitutional. Abortion was never a part of the fabric of our liberty.
—Helen Alvaré, Conservative Women’s Network, June 2018
by Georgia Gallagher
Helen Alvaré is currently a law professor at George Mason University where she teaches Family Law, Law and Religion and Property Law. She is also an author and one of the founders of WomenSpeakForThemselves.com.
On June 29 CBLPI and The Heritage Foundation hosted their monthly Conservative Women’s Network luncheon, held at The Heritage Foundation’s headquarters on Capitol Hill.
Alvaré began her speech, titled “The Demand Side of Abortion” by defining what she called “sexual expressionism,” where women are completely separated from the idea of sex producing children and have an indifference to the idea of marriage.
She referred to the culture we live in as a “sex, mating and marriage marketplace” and stated that there is both a supply side and demand side of the abortion industry. Alvare clarified that the supply side is what the pro-life groups mostly deal with, but that they should also be talking about the demand side.
The sexual revolution seems almost immune to criticism, even though we know that women aren’t loving it. The sexual revolution gives men and women the ability to separate sex from tomorrow.
Roe vs Wade in Context
Then she discussed Roe vs Wade in the context of due process.
The entire legal premise of Roe vs Wade is that there is a nontextual, constitutional right to abortion, on substantive due process grounds. Which is a simple way of saying that there is an American principle so deep and so universally held, and so bedrock that we cannot do anything other than recognize it even though it isn’t in the constitution. If 20 states outlaw abortion in 18 months after 45 years of fighting about Roe vs Wade…then obviously the legalization of abortion was never constitutional.
At the conclusion of her speech there was a Q&A session where the audience had the opportunity to ask Alvaré to elaborate on many of the topics she touched on.
View her full remarks below:
Georgia Gallagher is a 2018 Fellow.