Consent Quotes
Goodman is citing the 2003 poll conducted by the pro-choice Center for the Advancement of Women, who found that the majority of women believe abortion should be legal only in three cases -- rape, incest, or danger to the life of the mother.
Commenting on the status of the Cherokee Indians.
While most of the Council of Trent was very conservative in that they were dealing with the threat of Reformation and the Protestants, this particular Cannon is profoundly liberal. Women, who had virtually no rights had often been “sent” to a convent by a father or guardian, the local priest or bishop, and in some cases even a husband. This established for the first time that women could not be forced to take vows—a major step in the evolution of the freedom of women in Western society.
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.
This was one of the first elucidations of this principle which became so important for the American union and Revolution. The 1754 debate was over Franklin's public effort for a Colonial Federation (see {37005}, {37006}, & {583424}). Shirley liked the idea but thought that the King of England should appoint the members of a Colonial Congress. This was Franklin's counter, arguing that each colony should elect its own members.
This is a common rejoinder of third world country leaders to accusations of Western democracies about corruption. And doubtless it is true. However temptation has never been a good defense of improper behavior.
Although written in 1770, it was not formally published and available until 1774
