“This seems to be a party that really believes that life begins at conception but ends at childbirth.” — Joe Scarborough
Even with a Democratic majority in both houses of Congress, a Democrat in the White House, and polls showing overwhelming public support for women’s reproductive rights, it appears that all traditional political means of preventing the Supreme Court’s overturning Roe v. Wade have been cut off, at least in the short run.
Any move in Congress to legally codify abortion rights with a simple majority vote necessitates ending the filibuster. Democrats once again hamstrung on that issue by faux-Democrats Sinema and Manchin, are acting like they are powerless.
The neo-Confederate Republican Party, with Trump as its bandleader, and his appointees dominating SCOTUS, has learned how to wield reactionary power from a narrow white, male, southern political base by combining threats of organized violence (January 6th) with legal maneuvers under that banner of “states rights.”
Of course, none of this could happen without some acquiescence on the part of a Democratic leadership that has no problem waging proxy wars without a vote in Congress but can’t find a way to safeguard our basic freedoms.
If this leaked Supreme Court ruling is upheld, not only will abortions be criminalized and subject to imprisonment, but the precedent will be sent for new attacks on basic rights and liberties, ie. same-sex marriage, interracial marriage, etc...
As I’m writing this, Louisiana is advancing a bill (House Bill 813) that would not only ban abortions but criminalize IUDs with the prospect of charging women with murder for using them. Opponents of the bill say its broad scope could also criminalize in vitro fertilization and emergency contraception.
This is why tomorrow’s planned protests in cities across the country are so important. At watershed moments like this, mass protest and grassroots resistance have been the most effective means left to defend our democratic rights.
We need a fence to keep the Trump Supreme Court out of our lives.
Today, in addition to the “non-scalable” fence erected last night, Capitol Police are placing concrete barricades around the Supreme Court. Legal commentator Joyce White Vance tweeted:
“Odd that the Supreme Court is acting like they’re under assault when it’s actually us who are under attack by them.”
Mike Klonsky's Edu/Pol is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts in your mailbox and support this project, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.