The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade will create two Americas when it comes to abortion access — the mostly red states where abortion is illegal in most circumstances, and the mostly blue states where it is mostly available with restrictions. But this sudden cleaving in the United States will go far beyond abortion access, affecting healthcare, the criminal legal system and politics, at all levels, in the coming years.
We can’t know exactly how all of this will change. But we asked a group of historians, legal scholars and women’s health experts what they think will happen to the abortion landscape in the United States, and how that will affect law, politics, healthcare and society. Some thought the reversal of Roe would soothe political polarization by taking abortion out of national politics. Others thought the exact opposite would happen: Abortion would become a front-burner political issue at all levels, pushing our already-extreme polarization to boil over. Still others thought the decision wouldn’t make […]
There are a variety of interesting takes on abortion in this article, but I believe every one of them misses the point. The abortion ruling and the discussions about it are red herrings. The real issue is not about abortion. As you have astutely stated many times, the christofascists and/or Republicans supporting the “pro-life” stance demonstrably do not care about children, born or unborn.
The issue is about power and control. Abortion has long been the favored and most effective way for patriarchal, misogynistic organizations to keep women “in their place,” subservient to men. The accompanying sadistic ferver is considered a feature, not a bug. Clarence Thomas affirmed the real issue when he said the quiet part out loud, listing the other groups and issues the court plans to demote to second class citizens.
“When someone (the Supreme Court) shows you who they are, believe them.” The current court has made it clear that they plan to destroy democracy as completely and quickly as possible for as long as they can. And they are appointed for life.
As I understand it, expansion of the court is the only legal and peaceful means of rebalancing the court and diluting their seditious power. This makes the midterm congressional elections – four months from now – the most critical election of our lifetimes. To stop this judicial coup, democrats must gain enough power – and the WILL – to kill the Senate filibuster, enabling them to expand the court. It is probably the last chance to stop the ongoing judicial coup before it is too late. Otherwise, democracy dies.
Four months. Tick-tock.
VOTE BLUE. Or else….