By exposing unborn human beings to the deadly intentions of another person, our abortion-friendly laws have put in question the basic justice of our entire constitutional order. Even so, the late 20th century disintegration of marriage is more epoch-defining, and more hazardous to persons moral health. The question of legally recognizing same-sex marriage thrust upon us by recent court decisions culminates this disintegration. There are many reasons why the ills of marriage are so pivotal.
Marriage is the principle of sexual morality.
Immoral sexual acts are often wrong for other reasons, too, such as the injustice of imposing oneself sexually upon another without consent. But all immoral sexual activity is wrong because it is non-marital. Our law until recently recognized this pivotal role of marriage. Besides the centrality of marriage to sexual ethics, our law always knew that a social commitment to marriage entailed a wide pattern of restraint upon all, married and unmarried alike. It is not necessary to imagine what this asserted right to sexual satisfaction would do to a society.