Roe vs Wade and the currency of the Holocaust

[EtienneSC]

The US Supreme Court overthrew the 1973 ruling on Roe vs Wade that legalized and regulated abortion in the USA on 24 June 2022. The 1973 ruling was reckoned epoch-making. For comparison, abortion was legalized in France in 1975, in the UK in 1967 and in Italy in 1978. Similar exceptions to the general prohibition were adopted in West Germany around the same time.

This era of abortion legalization coincides with the eruption of the Holocaust into public consciousness in these countries, which also happened in the 1970s (e.g. with the mini-series Holocaust). E Michael Jones makes a similar point with the rise of horror films, though the horror genre predated legalization of abortion.

I wonder then if one of the social roles of belief in the Holocaust is not as a distraction from or balance to the thought of abortion, its inconsistency with the sanctity of life and the post-war liberal belief in choice as the ultimate arbiter of morality (the "woman's right to choose" in this case).

It does not coincide with the birth of Israel for example, though it is around the same time as the Six Day War (1967) and Yom Kippur War (1973). The Holocaust also helps to solidify support for Israel in the West, but multiple causes are always at work in human affairs

It seems increasingly evident that belief in the Holocaust is not a function of detailed study - rather the reverse - and that this is because it carries an emotive force that deserves study on its own account.

Perhaps with the passing of Roe vs Wade in the USA, the passion behind faith in the Holocaust will fade there, at least to a degree.

Related article:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jan/08/abortion-law-germany-nazis-women