Women On Trial

Today the Supreme Court of the United States will hear a case which will determine whether the landmark Roe v Wade decision will stand or fall as federal law. The argument will be brought by a redneck sexist from a poor, historically beaten-down state where women are far more likely to die from childbirth than an abortion. The decision would place the power to legislate abortion restrictions or bans with the states. That would reverse the Roe decision and in so doing, set the precedent of the Supreme Court being effectively disempowered, all past decisions forever called into question, its future a mockery of its own past. It would also mean that more would follow. Right-wing states which have most often elected fake Christians to their legislature because they claim “Christian Values” are bound, once they have no more federal oversight, to clamp down even more on the reproductive rights of women.

If the Roe v Wade decision is overturned, it is not unlikely that even contraception would be restricted if not outlawed. Imagine drug stores not selling condoms or prescription drugs ever again. “The Pill” would be illegal. Because the center of this whole thing is the obsession of men to dominate women. No, I’m not using hyperbole. That’s always been the core issue.

Does anyone remember the film Billy Jack?

A school which houses and helps wayward or disposable children takes in a runaway, a sheriff’s daughter. The reservation is protected by elders and a former Green Beret named Billy Jack, played by Tom Laughlin. As the father confronts his runaway daughter she tells him she was pregnant and had an abortion so she doesn’t know what race the child was. Of course, he beats the hell out of her. In the film The Godfather Part Two Kay tells Michael that she had an abortion because she didn’t want to bring any more of his children into the world.

In pop culture, abortion was subject to treatment in Indie films and blockbuster motion pictures. It was the subject of documentaries and bullshit propaganda “Christian” essays and books.

What seems so hard for people to believe is that the legalization of abortion has saved lives. We can know this, but not quantify it. We can point to case histories, should a woman agree to share her information, where the mother would surely have died had she carried a baby. Sometimes we can know that couples agreed to abort a pregnancy because they were smart enough to know that things like hereditary conditions, financial and job statuses and other factors all made having children a risk or a responsibility they could not live up to.

Oh boy. Did those church leaders ever howl. Roe empowered women who always should have had the final decisions in the matter of their pregnancies. As a matter of history, men have had the last word. Women occasionally rose to prominent places in societies but were almost always surrounded by manipulating men.

Right now, a conservative majority in the Supreme Court is once again threatening the rights of women to their own health and well-being choices.

It’s wrong. And remember this: there are not many people who claim to be “pro-abortion”. The issue is pro choice. The freedom to choose, to make personal decisions. It’s about constitutional rights. It’s about women’s rights and the men who want to snuff those out.

The case is not very Christian, though these men claim that motive and that power. Humans are gifted with certain abilities, and among those are the ability to make choices. The Catholic Church condemns abortion. It has therefore condemned women to die while pregnant or giving birth. It has condemned women to feel undue guilt for having an abortion, leading to life-changing and often fatal outcomes. Placing religious-based guilt on anyone is a sin. As Jesus asked his Father to forgive those who had just crucified him, who were laughing at him, he would also ask for our forgiveness no matter what. To use his name to brutally, mentally punish another human being is to commit an utterly evil act.

I’m angry right now. Yup. Racist and sexist white men poison this country while hiding in the guises of men of God.

It’s more than enough to make me puke. This…is sickening.