The Thing About Roe

The anti-choice crowd appears to be thrilled with the idea of Judge Brett Kavanaugh and his pro-forced-birth record possibly being confirmed to the United States Supreme Court (SCOTUS). Despite his rhetoric of Roe being “settled law,” there is absolutely no empirical evidence that he won’t do his damnedest to overturn it. I suppose to some folks, the reversal of Roe is all about making abortion illegal: they will sleep better at night knowing that pregnant women everywhere have to stay that way whether they like it or not, and whether they are safe and healthy or not. For those of us that live in reality-land, it’s also about all the things that ride on the back of Roe that will jeopardize the health and safety of American women.
Many of the pro-birth lawmakers that oppose safe, legal abortion don’t have enough of a concrete grasp on what abortion even is. Not an hour before this writing, Judge Kavanaugh himself referred to birth control as “abortion-inducing drugs.” And this administration wants to give this willfully ignorant wackaloon a lifetime appointment to the SCOTUS.
So-called “pro-life” and “right to life” groups circulate deliberately misleading information equating hormonal birth control and birth control devices with “abortifacients,” and calling the uteruses of women that have used birth control “graveyards.”
Right-wing politicians don’t mind blatantly lying to the voting public about matters of reproductive health. They’ve said things like that women can’t get pregnant from rape. They’ve said that rape kits are the same as having a D&C. They bitch about “activist judges” on the left but have no qualms about nominating one themselves.
It should be common knowledge that one cannot have an abortion when one is not pregnant, but apparently, it isn’t. And this is why repro health care should be between a woman and her doctor, not Congress, the judicial system, the church, and the healthcare industry.
Because Congress is making it okay for hospitals to refuse to treat women that are miscarrying, are carrying a non-viable fetus, or who wish to have a tubal ligation. The rules regarding care at Catholic hospitals are written by bishops rather than by health care providers, so their rules are not necessarily in the patient’s best interests. They pander to ideology rather than provide patient care. Because of so-called religious exemptions, they are allowed to conduct matters as such. Catholic hospitals are becoming more common and are often the only hospitals available in smaller and more rural communities. So, ladies, you better pray your pregnancy goes smoothly because the doctors very well might not help you now; and it won’t get any better for you if Roe is overturned.

States all over the nation have been attempting to pass “personhood” laws and amendments for years, granting fetuses — and in some cases fertilized eggs — more rights than pregnant women. And because that’s not fuckin’ scary enough, Republican lawmakers from Oklahoma and Virginia recently referred to pregnant women as “hosts.” That’s right, ladies: your body isn’t yours. You are but a vessel.
Congress has allowed fake clinics, often called Crisis Pregnancy Centers or CPCs, to lie to women under the guise of free speech in order to coerce them into staying pregnant when they don’t want to be. CPCs are not medical facilities. As such, they are not required to employ medical staff or to inform clients of all their available options regarding pregnancy. They require job applicants to attest to being both Christian and anti-choice. They offer no substantial help to pregnant women, and they are funded by taxpayers.
Currently, in several states, if a woman becomes pregnant as a result of a rape and chooses to parent, her rapist can seek custody or the right to coparent with his victim. If she no longer had the choice to have an abortion, she would be forced to have that baby and coparent with her rapist.
The SCOTUS has made it so that our employers get to decide what health care coverage we can get based on our employer’s religious beliefs. Pharmacists can refuse to fill our prescriptions. What we want or need is considered meaningless, and others get to make our choices for us.
Targeted Regulation of Abortion Provider, or TRAP laws, are already closing repro health clinics, ostensibly over the safety of abortion. Which is crap. Repro health clinics are being denied funding; even clinics that don’t provide abortion. This administration is ready to withhold funding from clinics that even mention abortion as an option. Of course, this is meant to turn women away from having an abortion, but pulling funding from clinics also puts communities at risk for outbreaks of STIs. Removing access to contraception and medically accurate education will not prevent unintended and unwanted pregnancies and STIs epidemics.
American women are already being arrested and jailed for inducing abortion, calling it “feticide,” even though abortion is supposedly still legal. Women are being arrested for having had a miscarriage. “Criminal miscarriage” might not sound like a thing, but it is. Without laws giving women choice, expect this shit to get even more real.
All this is happening now, and Roe is still the law of the land. If that changes, all of this will get worse. Way worse. This is not hyperbole or “hysteria.” Women are already being treated like we’re nothing but uteruses. Repealing Roe is nothing but broodstock management for the crusty old white men that want to remain in charge of everything and everyone.
The United States already has the worst maternal and infant mortality in the developed world, as well as lackluster community and government support for families. It’s not about to magically get better by limiting family planning options and outlawing abortion.
There will always be abortion. Making it illegal is just going to move it back underground, making it far less safe than it is now. Remember that scary scene from Dirty Dancing?? Remember Kermit Gosnell?? Well, get used to that being the new normal. If Kavanaugh is confirmed, we will be going back.
Donald Trump has suggested “some kind of punishment,” for women who have abortions. With the upcoming midterm election, prosecuting women and doctors over the issue of abortion is kind of a big deal in Idaho. Judge Kavanaugh appears to be just the man for the job, making sure these penalties are no longer unconstitutional.
I suppose that’s fine for the people that don’t have to live with the reality of limited access to repro health services including, but not limited to, abortion. Women are dying and being incarcerated the world over and conservative Americans would rather our country be more in their fashion.
Unfortunately, there are those of us that will suffer and perhaps die in order to placate the conservative masses. Our lives don’t matter to them, which is why we all need Roe.
