"I would like to use this opportunity to address two common misunderstandings about Roe. The first misunderstanding is that Roe is somehow inconsistent with conservative principles. Nothing could be further from the truth. I believe that anti-abortion activists are entirely right to emphasize the moral seriousness of the abortion decision and to publicize the cases of women who have come to regret their decision to have an abortion. There is, of course, a way to avoid mistakes of that sort. Instead of leaving the decision to individual women, the government could make it for them. We could make a centralized, collectivized decision about abortion that would shield individuals from the responsibility and consequences of moral choice. Ironically, throughout our history, it has been conservatives who have counseled against that sort of solution. They have been the ones who have warned us again and again about the risks of big government and the virtues of individual freedom and responsibility. Roe v. Wade amounts to no more than an application of this core conservative principle in the area of reproductive choice. It should therefore come as no surprise that when the Court strongly reaffirmed Roe in the Casey case recently, all five of the Justices in the 5-4 majority were appointed by Republican Presidents, including Presidents Reagan and Bush."