As I type this it has been about a month and a half since the Supreme Court of the United States overturned Roe v Wade, thus taking away what was a constitutional right ( in this case, the right of those who can get pregnant to be able to have and access an abortion if a pregnancy is unwanted or if their life is in danger) on a federal level from over half the country's population. A number of states (almost all ran by Coupublicans) had trigger laws that automatically went into effect making the procedure illegal while other states pushed through abortion bans in as quick a time as possible, regardless of what the aftermath may be. In the time since the situation women (as well as trans men and non binary people who can get pregnant) find themselves in when it comes to their health has become the shit show that reproductive freedom and reproductive justice advocates predicted it would with storied of women who end up in medically induced comas or, in one case dead, because their pregnancies either were ecotopic or they had a condition that would make carrying a fetus to term life threatening or fatal. There's also the case of a 10 year old girl in Ohio who was raped and had to cross state lines to get an abortion not being believed by the right wing media and the doctor being targeted by the same asshats when it was proven true. It doesn't take a lot of searching online to see how the right wing's pro forced childbirth agenda is causing havoc and problems for actual people.
While I had planned to write about these things I do see them covered fairly well elsewhere so I;m going to take a different tack on the subject. This was supposed to close out the new print issue but certain surprise events caused a shake up there so this is off to the blog. With that in mind let's explore LIFE IN POST ROE MUR'KA: THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE UGLY, AND THE PLAIN SCARY.
THE GOOD
This goes to the state of Kansas, where voters turned out against a proposed amendment that would say people don't have a constitutional right to an abortion in said state, thus allowing legislators to push laws to make it illegal in Kansas too. Written confusingly (in this case voting no was protecting the right to choose for those who can get pregnant) and planned for a vote not even in the midterms but during a primary election in a midterm election year those trying to force this upon people were counting on low voter turnout and confusing language to get their way. If SCOTUS hadn't of jumped the gun by overturning Roe, they might have succeeded.
Instead, people were angry enough to get out to vote in numbers few expected otherwise. Add to this (for full disclosure) the confusing manner in which the law was written (I think in hopes they could confused people into voting their rights away if they weren't paying attention) and this law was widely kicked to the curb across the political spectrum. Yes, even a good chunk of GOP voters sent this down in flames.
To tell the truth I was expecting this to go the other way in part due to voter suppression efforts on the GOP side, the confusing language of the bill, and primary election turnout expectations, The fact that Kansas did the right thing is a sigh of relief and hopefully a blueprint for voters and the left to fight for and expand their rights in the upcoming elections.
THE BAD
This goes out to the bad faith arguments on the pro forced childbirth side given when challenged on certain things. From heads of pro forced childbirth organizations claiming that street lights in DC are powered by aborted fetuses to claims that the treatment for ecotopic pregnancy isn't an abortion when the procedure is an abortion , there's a tendency top shift goal posts to deflect from the aftermath of their side getting what they want, even though the majority of Americans don't want this. Add to this one politicians' attempt to claim abortion and infanticide are one in the same by trying to gotcha reproductive justice advocates over a question over whether babies can be terminated after they're born and when called on the question's stupidity and bad faith casing refusing to let up. This last example is especially heinous since this guy knows there's a difference between the two (anyone who understands basic pregnancy cycles and how the law works can see this) and is trying to gibe raw meat to his base as he faces re-election.
Expect to see more of this bullshit in the next couple of years (abetted by the corporate owned mainstream media who often refuses to push back on arguments anyone who thinks about it for more than five minutes can see are made in bad faith) since in the blow back from this (and their plans for a national ban - we all know these asshats are planned for this now) along with the gaslighting that those in red states can simply travel to a state where abortion is legal despite knowing that i take resources and time to travel to another state and that some states are planning vigilante style laws to sue those helping someone who leaves a states for this procedure or wants to force their laws onto doctors in other states to stop residents from states where it's illegal from getting an abortion (this will effect poor to lower middle class people the most since everyone knows the upper middle class and the wealthy will likely be able to travel for this with little interference [especially if its a family member or a mistress of a pro forced childbirth right wing politician).
WHERE THIS COULD LEAD
The ugly part here is that while the mainstream media is gaslighting people that are reminding the people that this is merely the start, people in the pro forced childbirth movement are already working on plans to make contraception illegal (even for married couples). Justice Thomas even suggested doing so in his argument for overturning Roe. Meanwhile,there are hints that same sex marriage and LGBTQIA rights will be under attack next and that more rights may be taken away regardless of the views of the American people. Hell, one or two people in Congress have even suggested that states should be able to outlaw interracial marriage as "states rights."
The gaslighting is especially nauseating because people either try to claim that SCOTUS is just leaving this to the states (while ignoring that some of these pro forced childbirth states are trying to prevent those who can get pregnant (yes, the majority of people who get pregnant are women, but some trans men and non binary people can as well) form being able to travel to get it done.
The fact that other rights may be in the cross-hairs as some sort of sick christian supremacist fantasy also pays no account to how this will affect gay couples in red states or interracial couples if it gets to that point. Will their marriages be grandfathered and allowed but not new ones? Will they automatically be divorced by state decree? What if a couple can't afford to move? The fact that those wanting to push this bullshit never give this any thought shows that being cruel is the feature here and that any claims from the right wing that all lives matters is bullshit. A fact made especially poignant when reports emerge of pro choice protests having trucks rammed through them or some asshat deciding to just scream at and physically assault protesters.
SO IS THIS THE END OF THE LINE
Of course not. However, things are complicated now for obvious reasons. Because of this we have to acknowledge that this upcoming election is important and we need to vote out any asshole that thinks overturning Roe was a good thing. We also have to remember that politicians usually won't do anything unless there's pressure form the people to make them act. While it will seem like an uphill battle this is ture now more than evee.
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