An Short Angry Response to SCOTUS
Yes, This is a Rant. And It Should Surprise No One.
The U.S. Supreme Court did today what we all knew it would do, what the leaked ruling told us it would do. It overturned Roe v. Wade and stripped women of a right they have had for 50 years. In doing so, the court has turned the political order on its head.
Supporters of this ruling will tell us that Roe was always bad law. That Casey only compounded it. That this should have been left to the political sphere. They will tell us that the “creation” of a right to abortion contradicted tradition. That the government has an interest in protecting the unborn, that this has nothing to do with women.
Screw them. All of these arguments presuppose one thing: an assumption that women should not be in charge of their own bodies, that they are not incapable of managing their own biology, that the unborn — more accurately, the zygote or embryo — needs protection from these wanton women. Women, the argument implies, cannot be trusted to make these decisions. That they must be prevented from deciding, that the state must be empowered to police their bodies. That the state knows better.
Many of the same people rejoicing now at the state’s new power over women’s bodies are the same people who have been shouting “my body, my choice” in regards to the coronavirus vaccine. Many are the same people who want to strip gays and lesbians of their right to marry, who wish to police the bodies trans men and women.
There is a through-line that connects abortion to LGBTQ+ issues to immigration to police violence against African Americans to Antisemitism and anti-Muslim violence. To voter intimidation and suppression. To the Capital coup attempt on Jan. 6, 2020. It is a through-line of control. Of restriction. Of picking and choosing who gets to be American and who gets to enjoy the full rights and privileges that are supposed to come with the designation.
Is this a stretch? Am I reaching? Probably. I’m not pretending otherwise. I’m not pretending that this is the kind of well-reasoned argument that could be published by respectable news outlets. I don’t care. I’m not interested in debating this. I’m angry, and no one should be surprised. I’m angry that the right wing’s decades-long effort to take over the Supreme Court has been successful. Angry that the court has overturned Roe and has made meaningful gun safety rules almost impossible. I’m angry that the right-wing court likely has other rights in its crosshairs, that it has been remade into a permanent reactionary force in American politics that will toss the vulnerable to the trash heap and ensure that entrenched power gets to remain in place.
So, no, this post is not a product of pure reason. I’m angry. We all should be.