The strangest thing to me about the controversy over Roe v. Wade is that nobody ever talks about why they passed Roe v. Wade in the first place. The reason why it became law is because they proved that outlawing abortions didn’t actually STOP abortions. They found that women who didn’t want to carry their pregnancy to term were going to get an abortion whether it was through a quack doctor, ingesting harsh chemicals, or with a coat hanger in a back alley. Roe v. Wade merely ensured that women had access to SAFE abortions and medical care that they needed. The bill was enacted to protect women’s health. Today’s ruling by the Supreme Court won’t save any babies. Rich women will still travel to foreign countries to get their “little problem” taken care of. Poor women will still go back to the barbaric home remedies they used to turn to. Let there be no doubt: overturning Roe v. Wade is merely political theater, paid for by extreme right-wing super donors and religious extremists (by the way, even the TALIBAN allows abortion—did you know that?).
Here’s an interesting factoid. When Roe v. Wade was passed in 1973, there was no particular political divide. Republicans didn’t care about abortions for ten years, until they found their numbers slipping and looked at ways to win future elections. They found that among their potential voters, talking about “killing babies” brought out extreme emotional reactions, enough to sway their votes. At that point in the early 1980s, Republicans began caring about abortions. Because they saw they could get votes by pretending to care about it.
And now, the dog has finally caught the car it has been chasing all these years. After decades of planning to take over the Supreme Court, Republicans have finally got what they vowed to do: they have overturned Roe v. Wade. Will it stop any abortions or save any babies? No. It will not. Will it hurt and kill any women who have back-alley abortions, or health-related issues like fallopian tube pregnancies, etc.? Yes, it will. If I was a woman, who cared about my personal freedom, I would be PISSED with the fury of a thousand suns.
And this court won’t stop there. Judge Clarence Thomas wrote in his closing remarks of today’s decision: “For that reason, in future cases, we should reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell.” Do you know what that means? That means they’re coming after gay marriage, gay relationships, and freaking BIRTH CONTROL CONTRACEPTIVES! This far-right court wants to reach right into your personal space and down into your pants.
You think I’m kidding? When Trump got elected, many people asked if Roe v. Wade might be at risk. Everyone responded “It’s settled law. It’s been a law for fifty years.” During the confirmation hearings for the three clowns that Trump put on the court, Kavanagh, Barrett, and Gorsuch all stated that they thought Roe v. Wade was settled law. They lied! In the last weeks, this Supreme Court has handed down one terrible ruling after another, from a law that says anyone within 100 miles of the border (this includes 80% of the population of the USA) can have their home raided at any time for no reason (no, I’m not being hysterical—that’s what it says). They ruled that you cannot sue the police if they fail to read you your Miranda rights. They ruled that a 100-year law in New York City keeping people from carrying concealed weapons was unconstitutional. In case you’re not following along, this court ruled that states do NOT have the authority to keep people from carrying concealed weapons in crowded cities, but that states DO have the right to stop a woman’s right to control her own body. This Supreme Court will go down in history as the worst, most partisan, least honorable, and most politically tainted Supreme Court this country has ever known. And I don’t think they’ve even warmed up their engines yet.
If you have an emotional response trigger that thinks any of these decisions are just and right and wonderful, I want to remind you that these decisions are NOT the law in any of the other A-list countries in the world. They look at us and they think we are plunging into a backward spiral into the Middle Ages and extremist religious persecution, like the countries controlled by the Taliban or ISIS (except, again, the Taliban allows abortion!). This hurts our global reputation, our economic position, and all other facets of US business relations. You think the best and brightest inventors, scientists, doctors, and thinkers want to move to a country where their daughters can’t even control their own bodily autonomy? No. They’ll go to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea, or any of the countries in Europe, where women have freedom. Today’s decision will have long-lasting impact, far beyond what you think it does. Today’s decision marks this country as a backward-thinking extremist state.
I hope that anyone concerned about their own freedom realizes that everything is on the ballot this November. If you don’t vote, and the Republicans gain control of Congress again, this will plunge this country into Handmaid’s Tale and beyond. I hope that the women in this country realize how much that the Republican party hates you. (I’ve got a preexisting medical condition, and I’ve known for years that the Republican Party hates ME.) It’s absolutely insane. I can’t believe I’ve lived long enough to see this day.
