by Ruth A. Sheets
A bunch of religious fanatics have been working hard to take over our nation. We have freedom of religion enshrined in our Constitution, yet these fundamentalists ignore that and have purchased the Republican party and our Supreme Court recruiting mostly white folks who want to make their own ultra-conservative beliefs the law of the land. The rest of us are to get no say while our rights are being torn away. Beyond their own personal religious dogma, these Roman Catholics and Protestant Evangelicals have no honest reason to do this than that they want their personal beliefs to be imposed on everyone. To stop this religious power-grab, Congress must step in.
These religious fanatics will not quit after abortion restriction is in place. Their hijacking of an entire political party has given them enormous confidence. They believe they have god's approval and whatever they want is from God's lips to their ears. Such belief in their own divinity let's believers think they have the "right" to act on behalf of their ideas: white men should be in charge, women are men's handmaids and deserve as little power as they can be kept to, and the fetus is more holy than the tainted woman who carries and nurtures it. People of color have no place in the new order except as servants to the white masters (sound familiar). Such self-interested thinking should let everyone know for sure it is not of god; it's a power play. It's their smug feeling that whatever they think, must be right.
This anti-woman, anti-people of color power-grab will need collaboration. It will require substantial participation by law enforcement, religious establishment leaders, local and state elected officials, and more.
Intense participation by the powers that be was also necessary to maintain Jim Crow after the Civil War. There were few efforts to stop the violence and destruction done by white men against Black citizens or to hold anyone accountable. Objections to lynchings, burnings, removal of whole communities from the map were met with indifference; active participation in the racist acts; "legal" approval of the actions by the Supreme Court , state governments, and local officials mostly in the former Confederacy. Those groups turned their back, self-righteously pontificated about, or enshrined in law the second-class citizenship of everyone in this country who was not white (women were already considered second-class citizens at best). Just to be clear, this treatment was forbidden by the 13th through 15th amendments. That fact was set aside just as the current Supreme Court is planning to set aside the 14th Amendment and our right to privacy.
People of color are still targets in the former Confederacy and Confederate wannabee states: passing voter suppression laws, refusing Medicaid expansion, allowing super-polluters to continue polluting low-income/Black communities, etc. Harming those groups has proven effective but insufficient for the power-grabbing white population. The next target is now women's rights. It is not that women have not always been targets of men of all races, but now, white men and their female surrogates are attacking a woman's right to bodily autonomy, a right women have had to various degrees for nearly 50 years. If they succeed, it appears only white men will have bodily autonomy (white men refuse to be vaccinated or wear masks against COVID because it is uncomfortable and they can't have that). Infecting others with COVID and their deaths are just unfortunate side effects of male bodily autonomy. However, losing bodily autonomy for women could mean death too!
Women are more than half the world's population so it is going to take a lot for white men and their female surrogates to keep women barefoot and pregnant, but the tyrannical white men and their handmaids will do their best. As with Jim Crow, these guys will have a lot of help, mainly, the conservatives on the Supreme Court. The conservative Roman Catholics have decided that their god doesn't want women to make reproductive choices for themselves. Those 5, plus 1 RC wannabee (Gorsuch), will take down Rowe v. Wade, a nearly 50 year precedent with no logical compelling reason to do it. And, they don't have to have one. They are the Supreme Court, after all.
The leaked draft decision written by Samuel Alito, a white man who can never become pregnant, has bowed to the American Catholic bishops who demand this ruling on pain of hell for the Catholic justices. Alito's draft leans heavily on a bunch of nonsense pumped out by men from the 17th century and before. Yes, let's look to scared English guys who still thought witchcraft was a thing that should be responded to with death for the "witch" to rule on 21st century issues. Something like that was in the minds of white men in robes murdering "uppity" Black folks. You don't need a real reason to condemn to death people you fear, who don't look like you or see the world the way you do. Remember, at the same time these scared white Englishmen were pushing death for "witches," Christians were killing each other to prove whose brand of Christianity was best. It seems leaning to heavily on history might not be a great idea. It can lead to bad outcomes.
Most women will not go quietly into that dark night, nor should we. When a significant group of religious zealots try to take over our government, everyone should be afraid. The fear is warranted but should activate, not cripple us. Look at what is happening in Afghanistan now. We needed to leave because conditions were not improving and too many didn't want us there, even after 20 years. When a large part of a society is still living under Medieval laws and practices, it is impossible to make permanent changes in 20 years that involve the entire society. The Taliban "promised" a whole lot of things to the people of Afghanistan and like the scared conservative white men in power in the United States, they knew promises mean nothing if you can get your way, get a lifetime appointment to the Supreme court, or gain some other advantage by not keeping the promise (lying).
women in Afghanistan now must wear burkas with face coverings (be invisible because all men's crimes against women are the woman's fault since seeing a woman makes men crazy.), girls can't attend school past 6th grade (keep girls ignorant so you can do whatever you want to them and they won't know or expect better). women are no longer allowed to hold office even though elected (men must make all the laws; in their warped minds, men think they always "know" best). All of these limitations on women arise from scared men who should know that the problem is not women, it is they themselves who are not functioning well and need someone to blame, someone they can claim they are superior to.
So, women, and men who actually care about your own rights and freedoms. White men in power and their female surrogates have a playbook of rights elimination. They are angry they can't control everything as they imagine their grandfathers did. They want to reinstate the mythical land of America before those horrible people started taking over. "Our Country's gone to hell since they got in charge."
When the Supreme Court decision comes down in the near future (whenever they feel it can do the most harm), it will require a whole lot of folks to enforce it. Abortion has been part of many women's reproductive life for millennia. Since 70% of the American people don't want this new attack on women, many extremely restrictive laws are going to be passed in states; a lot are now waiting. Some of these misogynistic laws are in use in Texas as we speak. The fetus faction will need law enforcement and vigilantes to do their bidding. In the "white" states, police who are already primed to do harm to mostly men of color will now also be able to turn their venom on women, particularly women of color, but a few white women, if they are poor enough or problematic, will get caught up too. Law enforcement has already worked hard to ignore crimes against reproductive health clinics and workers. Some state legislatures plan to make it illegal to travel to other states to obtain an abortion (How will they know? Will women have to get a pregnancy test before they can travel?) Then, will those former Confederate states and Confederate wannabees construct border walls to keep women from travelling to and from "blue" states?
As laws become more extreme, police may be able to get the phone records of women so they can see whom those women are contacting and what they are saying. That ultimately, won't be enough, so police will be further weaponized by legislators declaring abortion murder. The bloodthirsty "Christian" desire of these same anti-democrats who propose to kill women for having an abortion will never be satisfied. Yes, sisters, the fetus, wait, even a zygote will have more rights to life than you do. To further divide our nation, vigilantes will be encouraged to track down women who choose life for themselves and have an abortion. Citizens will benefit from betraying fellow citizens because of Medieval religious beliefs!
Yes, Justice Alito, as you mention in your diatribe, there is a lot of divisiveness in this country related to abortion rights, but most of it has been manufactured by you and your religious fanatics who are scared you are losing ground to people who want the same rights you white men have to affect their own lives. You competently demonstrated your contempt for women in your draft. You and the ultra-right "brethren" had already decided how you would rule before even hearing the case, you did what every intelligent student and scientist is told never to do, have an outcome you want then find proofs for your opinion. Your "proofs" are really poor, Medieval, and unamerican! You have again demonstrated your lack of empathy which you share with the other conservative justices.
It is hard to believe, but it seems a bunch of white folks, mostly male, are planning a system which builds non-trust (divisiveness) among citizens. Remember how well that worked in the 1950s when Joe McCarthy used such tactics to "track down Communists" here in the US. Some people approved of the lying and framing, but most didn't and he was deposed, but not soon enough.
Those like you are McCarthy's spiritual descendants. Like him you are OK with removing rights based on only your own beliefs, no proof, but who needs proof when you have god's ear or some such nonsense. You have forgotten, if you ever understood, the Supreme Court is supposed to impartially judge cases that come before you. What you should not be allowed to do as a Court is to remove rights from American citizens, or anyone else for that matter which we already have, particularly privacy. You have given rich corporations and gun-toters more rights than women have after your pathetic disgusting decision, but you don't care, you will never be pregnant, never be female and feel what it is like to be looked down on by rich white men like you. How sad for all of us men like you and your female surrogates have warped our society so you can remain in power no matter whom you harm. Can you identify a single Supreme Court case you have ruled on positively or negatively that has helped anyone but rich, white, "straight," males or rich white male-led corporations? You have not. We saw from your pathetic draft you will be right there leading the other conservative Catholic justices and Gorsuch to remove rights from folks you don't like and you will as usual, make up a reason for it as you go along. I am sure your clerks are carefully chosen for their delight in messing with our Constitution and our rights in this way at your behest. Shame on them and you! You are the ones wrecking the reputation of the court. It isn't the leak. That was a great thing. It's your draft that isn't great!
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