Our Pathetic Supreme Court and their Enablers

by Ruth A. Sheets

So, the Supreme Court has heard the Mississippi case against Rowe v. Wade and by all accounts, the Court’s conservative super majority will go along with letting states’ mostly male legislatures decide about women’s right to their own bodily autonomy and reproductive decisions.  They smugly chose not to halt a Texas law passed to keep women from having an abortion before they are even aware of their pregnancy and put its enforcement in the hands of vigilantes.  They care nothing for the women who now or in the future will need or choose abortions.  They care nothing about the difficulties of pregnancies that are the results of rape, incest, failed birth control, financial challenges, or anything else.  Have a serious medical condition, either the mother or the fetus?  Too bad!  Because, as Justice Barrett, the misogynistic woman on the Court told us, every state lets women drop off a baby if they don’t want it, so pregnancy isn’t a problem after a rape or incest or . . . . 

The Supreme Court conservative ideology has blinded them to anything but the dictates of their personal religious leanings rather than the law, precedent, or anything else.  The fact that all of the conservatives on the Court were picked because of their anti-abortion stance and not for their positive positions on human rights, voting rights for all citizens, the Constitution of the United States, economic fairness, racial equality, justice for all, or any of the other factors critical to American democracy is not only disgusting, it should be seen as unamerican.  

Just in case it is not clear, the fight against Rowe v. Wade is a strike against women, and many more strikes against women’s rights will follow.  The right wingers need someone to hate, and for them, women are the gift that keeps on giving.  Right now it's women and their ability to choose.  Next it will most likely be birth control and then, stopping women from moving more into the workplace, taking high-level jobs, and regularly demonstrating women are as capable as any man at just about any job.  That’s terrifying for conservative men who have counted on maleness giving them an entitlement even if they have not earned it. 

Catholic Bishops have dismissed women for centuries and have done everything they can including manipulating doctrine, to make sure women have no power.  Women can clean the church, attend mass, contribute money and time, do the small things that actually keep the church going but can have no real power.  Nuns are despised unless they keep their mouths shut.  Evangelical Protestant churches have similar strategies. 

What do we know for certain?  First of all, we can count on the Supreme Court for nothing that will help or support women and women’s rights unless the Court is expanded and nominees are approved for their integrity and concern for human rights, the rights of everyone, not just people of a select gender, race, or religion.

An ideologue Supreme Court is not good for everyone, just for the ones who fit in with the group the ideologues like.  In this case, it is white Christian men.  Even rapists, incesters, and those who favor women stuck at home with the kids, even if it means poverty have more rights than the pregnant person.

Well, it's time we women truly rise and shut down the men (and women who love them) who stand against full rights for women.  First of all, no man should be able to decide about women's bodily autonomy.  Men should be forced to recuse themselves from any decisions related to this issue or women should ignore the men’s rules on their right to choose altogether.  We need to help brainwashed women to see that they have value beyond that of the men in their lives or their value to men as mouthpieces condemning other women. 

Women have been shamed if they chose abortion.  The shaming needs to stop.  Abortion is healthcare and needs to be treated as such.  Women should be able to stand up and say “I made that decision because it was right for me.”  Women hiding their faces and mumbling, if mentioned at all, that they regret their choice is disturbing.  Guilt driving women to make shrines to the fetus they aborted is so sad and unnecessary.

Yo!  Conservative Christian men, Jesus did not put women lower than men even though the Gospel writers have been interpreted over time as claiming that.  What came down to us, we are told, was “God’s Word,” a male book for men, and many of the men in conservative religious groups cling to their invisible woman understanding of the Gospels. 

Our task as “woke” women and men is to challenge the Supreme Court’s anti-woman rulings and hopefully expand the Court. 

In the meantime, we must find ways to help our sisters who need abortions to get them safely no matter where they live.  We can run an underground of medications, virtual doctors' consultations, trips out of states, boycotting events at and travel to anti-woman states, and more, but we need to do it soon and together.   As we all know, there is power in numbers and in stopping the funding of anti-woman entities as well as supporting the pro-woman ones.  We women deserve better than we are getting from this anxiety-inducing configuration of the Supreme Court so we must fight for what we want. 

Let’s do it!