The Supreme Court’s Texas Abortion Ban decision is their 21st Century Dred Scott
There are two big stories in America right now, Covid (the seemingly forever story at this point) and the Machiavellian Draconian Orwellian Nightmare Women Suppression Shit Law in Texas. Let’s talk abortion, shall we?
I know, I know, here’s a guy about to spout off about something that could never ever physically happen to him. None of my business, right? Right. Still, Texas and every other politician, State Legislature and court that finds a way to curtail and/or straight up rob a woman of her autonomy and adult decision making abilities throws this in my lap to deal with. Why? Because I care, and while I know that the choice of whether or not to carry a fetus to term or terminate the pregnancy is none of my G-ddamn business, the fact that I am a member of the voting public and have a voice in how this country is run compels me to speak out when I see government officials perpetrating wrong and inflicting crimes and pain upon any segment of the population.
What Texas is doing to women, and what other States wish to do to women, is vile. It’s dirty. It’s vicious and evil. While you’ll hear stories from men and women of how abortion is killing little children and the State must step in to protect them, the real motivation is control and subjugation. Control of women, of half the human species that historically has been considered the weaker sex, the half of the species that needs to be protected, coddled, told what to do, when to do it and how to do it. Subjugation of those these men deem less. Minorities. Poor. Uneducated. Oh, don’t worry, these well-healed monied and connected men who dreamt up this spiteful hateful law will find a way to ensure their wives, daughters, and mistresses (especially the mistresses) get only the best abortion care. So long as they can avoid an embarrassment, scandal and most importantly, child support.
What the Supreme Court recently decided in its shadow docket is unconscionable. The same mentality and disregard for women that birthed this disgraceful law in Texas and hurled it upon the very fabric of our national consciousness is to be found as the guiding light of the five justices who deemed that blocking this pile of pig slop masquerading as legal ingenuity was out of their purview. At least not until someone actually took it upon themselves to actively ruin, financially, those who seek to do nothing more than help someone in need of a ride, of money, of the health care that is their divine right. Then again, this is the same governmental body that decided slavery was A-OK.
On a side note: As I’ve been writing this the DOJ has decided to step in and sue Texas to stop this barbaric Machiavellian fascist tyrannical law, foisted upon the populace by lustful, sinful, guilt-ridden men who represent an ever shrinking minority of the American populace, and I am sure, the Texas citizenry. May they prevail.
Now, back to our regularly scheduled thought dump.
Going to exhale here and then take a deep breath. If being a Libertarian hadn’t been overtaken by so many Ayn Rand wanna-be fanboys jerking off to the idea that everyone is an island and beholden to no one, society be fucked, I’d consider myself a Social Libertarian. Go do what you want with your body, mind and soul, behind closed doors and so long as you’re not hurting anyone else (unless that’s what they want). Kind of sounds like Personal Liberty and Responsibility to me. This is how I see abortion. I don’t see it in religious terms (and even then it still fits snuggly with my view of how the world works and G-d’s edicts). I see abortion as like any other medical procedure, necessary or not. Do you want this? Does it bother you? Is your life and/or health at risk?
Alright, there are limits, just like most things in life (0.08 when driving). But, until we as a nation guarantee that women have the same rights of autonomy and control over their own bodies as men have over their’s there’s no point in discussing what limitations are reasonable, moral and ethical around abortion.
This is all just a lot of words to say that, once again, faced with a major choice between elevating equality for an historical minority or moving further away from the promise that all are created equal the Supreme Court got it wrong. There is no science to back up the underlying Texas anti-abortion argument. There is religion. There is misogyny. There is bigotry and racism. There is classicism. What I haven’t seen is anything to suggest there is solid, verifiable scientific data showing that the human heart is developed enough at 6 weeks after a woman’s cycle ends to beat or pump blood, let alone have the structures needed to even be classified as a human heart. I will say this, though, Governor Abbott and his puritanical pipsqueak Republicans in the State Legislature certainly, gleefully relied on the medical definition of “six weeks pregnant”, further putting the screws to the women of the State. Where the Supreme Court also got this wrong is relying on the misguided notion that just because no one has taken advantage, yet, of the most egregious aspects of this law that women and women’s health care providers aren’t harmed. That there is no damage simply because the law is on the books and in effect. Distasteful, dishonest, disingenuous.
Ultimately, though, the only way to move this debate out of the full control of the courts and abide by what the majority of Americans want is to enact federal legislation that codifies Roe and bars governments from stepping between a woman and her healthcare provider, especially when it comes to reproductive choice and health. I believe it would help if the ERA were finally added to the Constitution (I know there’s legal uncertainty around this as the ratification deadline has long passed and five States, also on dubious legal ground, voted to revoke their ratification). A woman’s right to control her own body, destiny, future and well-being isn’t something that should be up for debate or reliant on a court decision. It boggles my mind that at this point in our shared history the equality of a woman’s life isn’t woven permanently into the fabric of society, common decency and laws. Relying just on legal precedent is the coward’s way out. Whether you agree with the Supreme Court or not the one thing the Justices have proved time and time again is that legal precedent is a solid foundation and the gold standard until it’s not. Then it’s just fiat currency subjected to hyperinflation.
