Supreme Court Talibans Roe v. Wade: How A Partisan Supreme Court Dismantled Abortion Protections, and What It Means for Millions of Women and Other Americans
Today is an obscene day in America. Make that another of increasingly obscene days. The Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade ending 50 years of legal precedent that said a woman has a right to an abortion if she chooses to have one. What does this mean? Women’s right to abortion is no longer guaranteed. In some states abortion will now be effectively illegal. Already thirteen states have trigger laws in place, laws that anticipated the ruling, and which will now make abortion illegal, many within days, others within a month. What the **** is happening? What is going on in America? Why are we becoming increasingly backwards and autocratic? We know why. Because we have a partisan Supreme Court packed by Trump and we have Trumpian sycophants and cowards in too many legislative offices throughout the land. We could argue the politics all day, and the optics of seeing a decision about a woman’s body — typically a young or young-ish woman’s body — being decided by 5 men and 1 woman. Five old-ish men and 1 middle-aged woman to be exact. I have no issues with age — I’m an older woman myself — but there is some pretty rich irony here in that the case is being decided by folks who are pretty much past the age of reproduction — though we know that as long as a man can spurt, he can continue to impregnate. The bigger issue of five men, five ****ing old-ass men, deciding about a woman’s right to choose, is so infuriating it makes me want to vomit. Because it’s all about control. Control over what a woman does with her body, her uterus, her sexuality, her choices, her ability to work, her ability to move up the socioeconomic ladder, her ability to plan a life and future of her choice. How are these justices, and the scores of Republican legislators who have been rallying to outlaw abortion, any different from the Taliban? I don’t see much of a difference. Both seek to control women and to dictate us out of existence. The conservative judges and Republicans who have effectively obliterated the rights of millions of women to get ready access to abortion, are very much like the Taliban who seek to tell women what they can wear, that they must cover up their entire bodies, minus their eyes; that they can’t drive, go outdoors without male accompaniment, that their actions and choices must be legislated and governed by men.
Tell me, what is the difference here? It’s just a matter of degree. Yet the justices responsible for this travesty, and the many conservative Republicans who support their decision, would scoff at the Taliban and belittle them as primitive, backwards, anti-democracy and anti-rights. It’s so easy to act holier-than-thou and brag about how democratic and ‘civilized’ you are when you’re dressed in a western suit and sitting behind a judicial dais. Controlling a woman’s body and telling her — as the law now says in a number of states — that abortion is illegal, even if she is pregnant because she was raped or is a victim of abuse, or incest, and that she still has to give birth, is evil, insane, and mindboggling. It just shows how out of touch these justices are. That five out of the six have never been pregnant or had the ability to give birth says a lot. They have no idea. NONE. The audacity to think that they could feel more empathy for an unborn fetus than the person carrying it is vile. The hubris is mindboggling. That they could think they have more concern or conflict than the body carrying that fetus. That they could think they have a right to decide what happens with that fetus in that woman’s body. Because hey, get this, most women don’t ‘love’ abortion. Many women aren’t necessarily comfortable with it. But we make a choice based on what we want for our lives, based on what we think will be in the best interest of any child we might have, based on the type of life we believe we can provide for the fetus we are carrying. Stop the insanity!
We know that many of these anti-abortion politicians, judges, and other ordinary ‘pro’-life folk (pro-bullshit is more like it) have had abortions or have had partners, wives, lovers, daughters, nieces, etc., who have had abortions, and that many of them have paid for it, have insisted on it. We know this. We don’t need to see the actual reports (though those would be great. It would be wonderful to expose them for the hypocrites that they are. And yes, there have been reports of Republican senators opposed to abortion who’ve urged, and helped, their partners to get just that: former Republican senator Tim Murphy of Pennsylvania resigned after journalists discovered his affair and about his urging his mistress to terminate her pregnancy, despite his strong anti-abortion stance.). We know abortions happen — and happen frequently — because most of us know people in our lives who’ve had abortions. And they cut across all lines. Political lines, racial lines, socio-economic lines, religious lines, liberal, conservative, libertarian, Democrat, Republican, Independent, Christian, Muslim, Jew, Black, White, LatinX, Asian, Native American: HUMAN. We know this. And we know that among those we know who’ve had abortions, most don’t want to talk about it or make it public. And that’s okay. That’s their personal choice. But because of this, we also know that there are many others around us whose choices we don’t know about, but who have also had abortions. Some of them, multiple abortions. Some of them the same narrow-minded, autocratic bigots trying to snatch away our right to control our bodies and our lives. So why are we pretending? Why are we being hypocritical and holier than thou?
What Roe v. Wade said was that a woman had a legal right to an abortion. That her choice was protected if she chose to have one.
What the fuck is wrong with that? Ted, if you disagree with abortion, don’t have a fucking abortion. If your wife or girlfriend gets pregnant, good luck to you. You guys have a discussion and maybe she’ll agree not to have an abortion this time — unlike the last time you lying bastard — so good luck to you. Your choice, her choice. Leave the rest of us and our wombs alone.
And that’s what I don’t get: the double-standard of these bastards, these governors, state senators, legislators, justices, etc., who we can guarantee have had partners who’ve had abortions because there’s nothing like the ambition of a politician who’s running for office and who does not want that run tainted by news of an out-of-wedlock birth, or a mistress who’s pregnant, or simply does not want a baby to interfere with their all-out commitment to becoming the next state senator, governor, mayor, or supreme court judge.
So what will happen now that abortion will be illegal in many states?
The wealthy and the middle-class will simply go across borders to other states and countries, if necessary, to rid themselves of an undesired pregnancy. We should keep an eye on the calendars of congressional Republicans, though they are so selfish and self-serving that their partners will probably be tiptoeing out of town on their own, so as not to call any attention to the beloved hypocritical legislator or disrupt their itinerary. What will happen to the girls and women who become pregnant and don’t want to be, or can’t afford to be? I’ll hazard a guess by putting myself in their shoes. I’ll speak to this from a personal point of view. Although I made the decision not to have children and am past that time in my life, I can imagine what today must feel like for young women who are in the prime of their reproductive possibilities. I’m so infuriated I feel like crying. I can’t imagine what young women must be feeling about the rope that has now tightened around their necks, and about the possibilities for their lives that are being stifled and cut off. It has to be a scary time. For so long women, and young women especially, have taken the ability to get an abortion for granted. It was the knowledge of having a safety net, one that one would not want to have to use, but was grateful existed if the necessity came into being. Knowing that if you got in trouble, perhaps a tacky euphemism for pregnancy, you had an out — if you had no other options — alleviated the stress and desperation if you became pregnant before you were ready to have a child. The Supreme Court just upended that. Ripping the rug out from under so many young women, leaving them with no options. This is especially the case for low-income women. As of now — and we don’t know for how long this will remain the case, as so many states are hurrying to ban abortion — girls and women of means, individuals who can easily afford the gas, bus, train, or airfare and hotel fare, will be able to travel to other states to get abortions if and when they need them. We can guess that a lot of those folks will include the wives, lovers, children, and relatives of the hypocritical dirtbag senators, congressmen, and congresswomen who have helped to bury Roe v. Wade, as well as the partners and spawn of the scum justices who voted to overturn the law.
But the reality is that overturning abortion and making it illegal isn’t going to stop women from having abortions. It’s just going to drive them underground. Just as before abortion was made legal women were having back-alley abortions that often resulted in them hemorrhaging to death or to impaired births, that’s what’s going to happen now. And the majority of those who will be affected will be the poor, the abuse victim, the low-income woman of color.
Pregnancy is about more than just giving birth. It’s about access to good pre-natal care. It’s about being able to provide for the baby after it’s born. It’s about being able to access quality, affordable childcare, quality, affordable healthcare, decent housing, a livable wage. The ability to have the time to spend with your children and the resources to give them opportunities so they can fulfill their aspirations, so they will be socio-economically mobile, so they can fulfill their dreams; damn it, it’s about being able to provide for your child such that they are ‘able’ to dream and to have a solid chance at achieving their aspirations. Having a baby for a woman who is low-income and/or unready means she will have to make potentially crippling decisions. Will she be able to pay rent or afford childcare? Will she be able to continue going to school or on to college? It means she’ll have to decide whether she’ll have to work two or three jobs because the job she has barely pays enough for her to take care of herself, and her other children, if she has any. An unwanted baby, a baby that one is not economically prepared for means lowered life chances and opportunities. It means the likelihood of the newborn living a life of lack, of going without the necessities and essentials, of increased chances of their living in an unstable environment riven by physical, mental, and emotional abuse. In many respects it’s a death sentence: caused by the pro-lifers who forced the woman to give birth.
The evil individuals who overturned the law, and their many supporters, know this is a possibility. They are opposed to all of the programs that could help vulnerable low-income women and their children once they are outside the womb. In fact, much of the time they speak with disdain and characterize these women and their families as burdens on society, who should not be encouraged to get pregnant by receiving financial assistance as those programs will only encourage them to have more babies.
What a circular mindfuck.
So what will happen now? Will the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the increasing bans on abortion mean that women will stop having abortions? Not likely. Women will continue having abortions as they did in the past when it was illegal because for many women having a child when they are not ready means a curtailed life experience, a loss of opportunities, and the likelihood of a diminished and impoverished life for that child. Only now you’ll have more women dying because they are having illegal abortions and many of those abortions will be performed by individuals who are not fully qualified. You’ll have women taking all sorts of pills and other medications to prompt their abortion. You’ll have women throwing themselves down stairs to lose the baby, and you’ll have women committing suicide. (And you’ll have some women and their providers arrested for having performed those abortions.) It happened before, many years ago when abortion was illegal. In 2022, when women have come to view abortion as a right, do you think you’re going to legislate them into having coerced babies? Do you really think you’re going to have absolute control over their bodies and choices when they have been used to doing what they wanted with their own bodies? Think again. It ain’t going to happen.
What about women who have been raped by their fathers, uncles, brothers, by a stranger they met at a bar? So they’re going to have those babies as some of the 13 states with trigger laws are now demanding? I really just want to say fuck off to all the demonic morons who crafted these laws. They are the same soulless cretins who refuse to ban assault weapons despite the fact that 19 children and 2 adults were just decapitated and turned into shredded meat because of the ready availability of assault weapons.
I know for me, that if I was pregnant under the current anti-choice laws, I would do everything I possibly could to rid myself of an unwanted pregnancy if it was something I did not want or could not afford. I’d see my life chances as stunted and shuttered. I’d take whatever pill was necessary, do my best to beg or borrow to get the money I needed to go cross state or country to have an abortion. And if that couldn’t work, I don’t know what I’d do. I know the last thing any reasonable human being would want is to have someone give birth to an unwanted child. It’s a recipe for pain, suffering, and disaster for that unwanted child. Let me spell it out: The court is setting up many families for the infliction of abuse. So that’s the legacy of this decision: death, abuse, pain, stunted choices, and the birth of some children who are probably severely deformed or mentally incapacitated because a number of states are outlawing abortions for any reason at all; some have been ‘generous’ to allow abortions if a mother’s health is in danger, and a very few, if she is pregnant through incest or rape.
What can women do? We can organize and vote this November in numbers that have never been seen before. We can oust or block any candidate who is opposed to abortion, and support those who support a woman’s right to choose. We can and must take to the streets, to legislators’ offices and phones, to social media, to every avenue to let these judges and our legislators know that this atrocity will not stand. Our bodies, Our choice, and FUCK YOU!!!!
And because we’re not responsible for getting pregnant alone, though we are the only ones being forced to bear the brunt of these justices’ decisions, we can say ‘NO,’ to all the men who want to sleep with us. ‘NO, NO, NO! NO, until you — men — decide to get active and let all the legislators know that their bullying of women and our uteruses cannot stand.’
Women, let these men know that until they take a stand in support of us and our bodies, and our families and their stability and economics — for everyone in the family is affected by the birth of a child and by its cost — they can find somebody else to sleep with. We can take care of our own needs. It’s up to us and our partners to get corporations and businesses to stand up for their women employees and customers — like Lauren Hobart, the president and CEO of Dick’s Sporting Goods has pledged to do — and let politicians know that until they overturn these laws, businesses will boycott their campaigns and the cities in which these draconian laws have been passed. (Another equally chilling effect of this ruling and the coming bans is the fact that it is turning us into a nation of spies and snitches. Spying and snitching on our neighbors. Folks can turn in doctors, healthcare professionals, relatives, friends, anyone they believe is helping someone to get an abortion. What does it mean about the relationship between a woman and her doctor? The privacy oath? Does a doctor now owe it to law enforcement/the courts to report a woman who says she’s pregnant so the authorities can see how far along she is? What if a woman buys the morning after pill from a pharmacy, does she risk being reported? The domino effect of this ruling is far-reaching and astonishing.) Today’s news was dire, as was yesterday’s news regarding the supreme court overturning New York’s gun law, a law that for over 108 years had restricted who could obtain a license to carry concealed guns in public. The ACLU has also reported that on Thursday, the court struck down a law protecting an individual’s Miranda rights: “Today, in Vega v. Tekoh, the court backtracked substantially on its Miranda promise. In Vega, the court held 6–3 (over an excellent dissent by Justice Elena Kagan) that an individual who is denied Miranda warnings and whose compelled statements are introduced against them in a criminal trial cannot sue the police officer who violated their rights, even where a criminal jury finds them not guilty of any crime.”
What the fuck? We should be afraid. It’s clear this court is intent on gutting certain basic rights and protections that we have long taken for granted. Clarence Thomas has stated that he believes jurisdictions should also consider looking at the constitutionality of same sex marriage and access to contraceptives. America is a very frightening place in this moment, and everything these justices have done speaks to a need to overhaul the court and reconsider lifelong appointments. As well, how Clarence Thomas is even on the court still is unbelievable considering his wife’s involvement with the January 6th insurrection and her efforts to overturn the election.
Despite all this, I’m going to end on a good note. A note of positivity. As Senator Elizabeth Warren stated in a video on Instagram and Twitter, we cannot afford to lose hope, or rather, we must ‘Hold on to hope.’ (That is what this strategy of overwhelming us with one horrendous decision after the other aims to do: Have us lose hope and become paralyzed.) Instead we must organize and become more strategic and determined than ever. This atrocity must not stand. (And while we’re at it, girls, stock up on that morning after pill. Find out from your doctor about how long that ish will last — as in, will be good before expiring — and if it is possible for you to get prescriptions for it….Hey, protect yourself and take nothing for granted. Find out the facts about what’s safe, healthy, and available to you. I know I would.)
Click this link to watch Senator Warren’s very powerful statement and assessment of the supreme court ruling and the dangerous moment we find ourselves in.
Looking for more on the abortion debate? I highly recommend this excellent article by fellow writer, friend, and Reproductive Physiologist James Knight, ‘Zealots Clueless about Reproductive Biology are Continuing to Make Laws Regulating Women: Misunderstandings of pregnancy biology will continue to cloud the abortion debate’
James separates the facts from the fiction involved in reproductive biology, along with how politicians have used the politics of fear to manipulate general ignorance about fertilization, conception, and the various stages of fetal development.
I learned much that I did not know before. Again, I highly recommend it.
FYI: For those who are interested, Caroline de Braganza, a Medium writer from South Africa, shared that there’s an international petition of support on Avaaz and that it has already amassed 85,000 signatures. Let’s keep it going. Every effort helps. See link to petition below: Roe v. Wade: The Fightback Begins!
©2022 Max Smith