>>Thomas-you have to understand that the goal of the people writing and passing these laws is to eliminate abortion. They can't pass laws to prohibit it, so they're doing everything they can to make it as hard as possible to get one. Sadly, the courts seem to be allowing this crap to stand.
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>>Tamar
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>Glad to hear you understand it. I assume you also find it "crap" when the same techniques are applied to smoking, guns, soda and all other legal and Constitutionally protected activities.

First, I don't think smoking fits into the same bin as the other stuff here. If cigarettes were invented today, there is no way they'd be legal. Given the risks they present not only to those who use them, but to the people around them, the FDA would clearly ban them. That they're legal is just a historical accident.

As for soda, like all other foods (and I use the word lightly here <g>), it is subject to government regulation for safety. I think Bloomberg overreached, but I think it would be very reasonable to require visible labeling on soda and other sugary drinks that makes is clear that it's hundreds or thousands of empty calories. (That is, the cups you get in 7-11 or a fast-food joint should have a big visible label. So should the dispensers in the self-serve places.) When the smallest size you can buy in most places is a day's worth of calories for the average person, we are talking about a serious public health issue. (I'm old enough to remember when the soda sizes available were typically 8, 12 and 16 ozs. Today, a lot of places start at 20 oz., which, IIRC, is 2000 calories.) Education is power (which, btw, applies to cigarettes, too; there's an inverse correlation between education and cigarette use).

Guns, as you know, are a very different issue because they are constitutionally protected. However, SCOTUS said long ago that reasonable regulation is permitted; that's why most people can't have a machine gun. The question that we're arguing over (and by "we," I mean society, not you and I particularly) is what constitutes reasonable regulation.

Tamar