Sarah Weddington Quotes
It is unthinkable to allow complete strangers, whether individually or collectively as state legislators or others in government, to make such personal decisions for someone else.
Weddington, Sarah. A Question of Choice. G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1992.
Both the United States and Canada had laws regulating the sexual behavior of citizens in the privacy of their own homes. It was not just homosexuality that the state attempted to control. Even the specific positions and methods of heterosexual intercourse were controlled by some states. Oral sex, certain positions of intercourse and other “details” could put a person in jail. Canada, a parliamentary nation, changed this by legislation. In the United States, it was the Supreme Court decisions protecting privacy that invalidated these old sexual role restrictions and prescriptions. For example, just 4 years before this quotation was made, 1963, the state of Connecticut was ordered (Griswald v. Connecticut) to release a pharmacist for the “crime” of filling a doctor’s prescription for condoms for a married couple where the wife would likely die if she became pregnant and carried the baby to term.
While this was a strong central political principle for Reagan, a substantial part of his political party strongly advocated the against the government interjecting itself into people’s lives.
This was a criticism of most Republicans who generally claimed that they were against big government and government interference. Except however, they tended to support strong government interference about abortion, contraception, and other issues involving women’s control over their bodies. The Republicans mostly favored government prohibiting personal drug taking, couples right to divorce, right to marry, homosexual behavior, the right to die and other personal issues. However, Frank, who espoused government non-interference in these areas, was one of the strongest advocates in Congress for government interference with business and commercial activities.
Sarah Ragle Weddington, is an American attorney, law professor and former member of the Texas House of Representatives best known for representing "Jane Roe" (real name Norma McCorvey) in the landmark Roe v. Wade case before the United States Supreme Court. In 1989, she was portrayed by Amy Madigan in the television film Roe vs. Wade.
