I remember a world before Roe. I remember when it was illegal to end a pregnancy. There were girls who left school. No boys ever had to leave school because they got a girl pregnant, yet some boys did end up marrying a girl because there was a "baby."

A more Puritanic society insisted that the young people take "responsibility" and "pay for what they did." Not too many of these kids finished high school. Those who did finish high school rarely went onto to get higher education. With minimal skills and disrupted lives, the teens who married did not have many of the skills and opportunities to build healthy families.

We all know of children who are born to mothers who did not take care of themselves - who did not get good pre-natal nutrition. Who abused substances. Who were not ready for the emotional responsibility. Yet, we have to ask, is the greater society mature enough to take on this burden. Having forced the mother to take the baby to term, are tax payers ready to deal with the health and financial issues regarding a premature baby or one which has serious congenital issues. We can say that the two high school drops must foot the bill, but that is pounding sand.

Then there were the more affluent kids who lived in the fine homes along the golf course. They could leave for Sweden or Japan and be done over some holiday and return home - their lives not changed all that much.

In the United States - and elsewhere - some ships sailed beyond the three mile limit and the abortions took place at sea. For other people it was in back allys with a coat hanger.

Recent research suggests that many "witches" were mid-wives. The data show several million of these women were killed during European witch hunts. Couple that with seemingly reliable statistics that in Europe, before 1200, the number of births was about 1.3 children per family - totally counter to the belief that large families have always been the way of things. Anti-abortion became more of an issue after the black death - even though around that time the Roman Catholic church said a new-born did not have a soul until it was three months of age. What happened prior to that seems to be that people knew how to end pregnancies, but along the way, witch hunts were conducted to thwart those who would assist in preventing pregnancies.

In the 1960's, there was a Malthus revival. Malthus thesis was that as populations soared and resources dwindled, more and more people would have less and less. Simple example - at the gas pump the price of a gallon is almost double what it was not long ago. More cars are on the road.

There is a genie that is in the bottle. One group says it is up to the person who has to carry the fetus, whether she should be compelled to do so - rape and incest not withstanding. The secret side of this is that in one fell swoop, the government has decreed it has the right to decide about a woman's fertility. In arguments already heard before the Supreme Court, a government that has a right to tell a woman she must carry a fetus also then has the right to force an abortion. The issue is not whether abortion is moral or immoral. It is whether government has jurisdiction over a woman's right to choose. If choice is taken away, all choices goes with it - not just some.

If at some point the Malthusian model seems to rear its head, there may be laws that restrict child bearing.

Fertility and conception now seem to be coming under the sway of government. The side of the coin that is most often debated is abortion, yet government is also showing its readiness to get involved in banning cloning, banning stem cell research, and getting involved in how eggs are fertilized. For example, gay men can now have a child that is biologically theirs - the techniques exist. If two men can have a baby, how is marriage between a man and a woman the benchmark any more? Can "gay babies" be banned?

The battle about abortion may seem to be about babies, but underneath there are issues of freedom, women's economic rights, and a host of more profound issues. Overturning Roe might happen, but we ought to be careful when we kick over that rock, for we may end up seeing something that is not so pleasant.

Time will tell.