first of all, trading guns for abortion isn't much like the 3/5ths compromise to begin with; it's just wrapping two unrelated issues into the same deal. that do

first of all, trading guns for abortion isn't much like the 3/5ths compromise to begin with; it's just wrapping two unrelated issues into the same deal. that doesn't seem more stable than compromising on the issues individually (eg, "you can own guns as long as they don't look too scary" and "you can have abortions, but only up to the yth trimester). second, the only thing the 3/5ths compromise really settled was the balance of power between slave states and free states, and only temporarily. that balance was continually perturbed during western expansion and we eventually fought a war over it. AFAIK, it was probably necessary for the US to exist at all, but it doesn't seem that "great" in retrospect.