laws against homosexuality, drug use, and abortion, and concluded that the laws were futile, writing: Shur stated, "Unsatisfactory experience with the laws against abortion points up some of the major consequences of attempting to legislate against the crimes without victims. As an English legal authority writes, unsuccessful laws against abortion illustrate 'the inherent unenforceability of a statute that attempts to prohibit a private practice where all parties concerned seek to avoid the restriction.' " Unenforceable laws do little to regulate people's behavior, but do lead to crime and corruption. To suppress women's use of abortion would require dedicated and persistent government vigilance of a kind that no society has ever seen. The Romanian dictator Ceaucescu failed to restrict abortion even with all the existing resources of a totalitarian police state at his disposal-the birth rate went up briefly, then plunged again as women sought out illegal abortions. But Romania's draconian fertility law, which went so far as to give pregnancy tests to all working women monthly and require them to explain their miscarriages, did result in the highest maternal mortality rate in Europe. In a country like the United States, where individual freedom and liberty are paramount, it is inconceivable to imagine a successful campaign to outl...
