I wrote about abortion.
What the Supreme Court did this week is so upsetting, and probably one of the most consequential SCOTUS decisions of my lifetime. They essentially gutted Roe v Wade without even hearing argument in the case. They did this in the shadow docket (explained here), ended a 48-year precedent with a one paragraph long unsigned opinion in a 5-4 vote. Two of the five are credibly accused of sexual harassment, but that is a conversation for a different day. Abortion is functionally illegal in Texas, no exceptions for rape or incest. I’m sure many other states will follow very soon. People will die because of this.
There are all kinds of tragic and medically necessary reasons why someone may need or want an abortion. Laws like this ignore the complexities of pregnancy and make it harder for pregnant people to access critical medical care. 1 in 4 women will get an abortion in their lifetime (not all abortion patients identify as women, but this is still a notable stat). You know someone who has had one. They may not have called it an abortion—maybe they called it a D&C, or maybe they had an ectopic pregnancy, or maybe they had to terminate a pregnancy because it wasn’t viable. All of these are forms of abortion. Abortion is a common, SAFE, medical procedure. Abortion is healthcare.
Having said all of that, it is also worth saying that the only reason a pregnant person ever needs to give for seeking an abortion is simply that they do not want to be pregnant anymore. This does not require further justification. People should be allowed to make this choice for themselves. Bodily autonomy is a basic human right, and deciding when, if, and how many children to have is a basic pillar of being a fully functioning adult in our society. When the government makes that decision for someone, that person is being treated as less than a fully adult human capable of making their own choices. Ruth Bader Ginsberg said that in her confirmation hearing.
I understand that people have complex feelings about this issue. It is a deeply personal topic. It is ridiculous to make the argument that your own personal feelings should be the LAW for everyone. That is just not how it’s supposed to work.
It is also important to be honest about what laws like the one that passed in Texas actually do. It has been proven over and over again that banning abortion does not actually decrease abortion rates. Two things that have been proven to do that are increased access to comprehensive sex education and increased access to free birth control. We could also make it easier to be a parent in this country by doing things like strengthening the social safety net, and providing paid parental leave, free childcare, and universal Pre-K.
The truth is that the people who pass these laws do not care to do any of those things. They actively argue against them in most cases. Because the goal is not actually to substantially lower the number of people who need or want an abortion in this country. The goal is to force their personal moral convictions about conception, contraception, sex, and parenthood onto everybody else. In doing so, they are forcing people into cycles of poverty, forcing people into birth, and forcing people into parenthood. People who may not have the resources, or who just do not want, to do those things.
If that is your goal—to force everyone else to make the choices that you personally feel are correct—then the least you could do is just be honest about that, rather than gaslighting everyone with false proclamations of some mythical moral high ground that simply does not exist.
Support your local abortion fund (find them here), support organizations in Texas that are already doing this work (here’s a list), and do not vote for politicians who support horrific laws like this. We do not have to rely on the Supreme Court to block bad laws (they will not do this anymore, they simply do not care) if no one in the state legislatures is passing them in the first place.
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!!! THIS !!! very well done gilby. i learned so much. and also f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck