Constitution compels abortion on demand.

Abortion raises moral and spiritual questions over which honorable persons can disagree sincerely and profoundly. But those disagreements did not then and do not now relieve us of our duty to apply the Constitution faithfully.

[It was the issue of abortion that catapulted Blackmun to national prominence. When the case, Roe v. Wade, appeared at the Supreme Court, only seven justices were involved in the original oral arguments. For this reason, the case was later re-argued and as the justices met in conference, Blackmun was assigned to write the opinion for the majority. As has already been documented, Blackmun and his colleagues were determined to] find ... I may have to push myself a bit, but I would not be offended by the extension of privacy concepts to the point presented in the present case . . . I think I could go along with any reasonable interpretation of the problem in principles of privacy.

The women of this Nation still retain the liberty to control their destinies. But the signs are evident and very ominous, and a chill wind blows.

The right of an individual to conduct intimate relationships in the intimacy of his or her own home seems to me to be the heart of the Constitution's protection of privacy.

Make no mistake, abortion-on-demand is not a right guaranteed by the Constitution. No serious scholar, including one disposed to agree with the Court's result, has argued that the framers of the Constitution intended to create such a right.