Abortion under siege (other rights too)

A lot of people, including the right-to-life movement insist there’s zero chance of the Dobbs decision leading to bans on contraception or gay marriage. Of course, the right-to-life movement also claimed they didn’t support prosecuting women who get abortions but when it happens they aren’t out there protesting. So I think they’re lying again. And their goal to establish full personhood for fetuses (see the first link) will be a great hammer that law enforcement will use to hurt mothers, as it does already. So will the threat to doctors if they abort to save the mother and a court decides the risk wasn’t great enough.

Texas is quite willing to take the lead cracking down on gay marriage and gay rights period. It’s only a matter of time before the case hits the current theocrats of the Supreme Court. The results won’t be pretty. Several Supreme Court decisions have included comments that if people dislike the law, elect someone who can change it. This is some impressively brazen bullshit given the Supremes will support any Republican scheme to gerrymander and they may soon eliminate any power state courts have to prevent such schemes. They’re eager, in Josh Hammer’s words, to deliver justice—which Josh Hammer, for one, defines as punishing enemies and rewarding friends.

As Erik Wemple says, there were no shortage of pundits saying SCOTUS would not overturn Roe. Syndicated columnist Kathleen Parker was one of them but she insists (at the second link) she was “At the time it was written, it was accurate — it was on the nose.” Meaning that she couldn’t possibly have foreseen Trump electing enough conservative justices to make Roe a dead precedent (if she didn’t foresee that possibility, she’s a poor predictor). And besides, Kavanaugh, whom she predicted would uphold Roe, would totally have done it if the radical pro-choicers hadn’t protested against him! Of course, Parker is the same hack who predicted Trump would totally not be a shock to the established system.

Other pundits are recycling an argument that Western Europe has way more restrictive laws than the U.S. Not true.

Forced-birthers are still hoping to find ways to stop patients leaving the state for abortions. That includes making it harder for 10-year-old rape victims not to bear the child, never mind the mental and physical toll. And yet, as Scott Lemieux says, we’re supposed to respect their high moral fiber. Or buy into the idea that if we’d compromised more on abortion, they’d be more compassionate. Nah. But variations of “now that abortion is gone, we’ll be really concerned about helping mothers” are widespread on the right. See Peggy Noonan try this approach and get mocked for it!

Some judges are still blocking anti-abortion laws. Florida too. Good for them (though a higher court overturned this one, alas). I know these restraining orders will fall eventually, but every day they stand, some woman who needs an abortion is free to get one. Which makes it disastrous that after the Biden administration appointed a record number of judges its first year, Senate Democrats are sitting on their butts about filling vacancies. These positions matter! Here’s another example.

Of course the forced-birthers on SCOTUS are protected from dealing with protesters by a buffer zone — but when buffer zones inconvenience anti-abortion activists, they’re unconstitutional.

Helaine Olen explains why companies paying for employee out-of-state abortion trips is not the fix we need. However, anti-vax bullshit artist/attorney Matt Staver is on the case, declaring that this reduces women to slave labor.

Biden has called for a filibuster exception to pass pro-choice legislation. That’s good, though I doubt it can happen.

Some men are rushing to get vasectomies in the wake of Dobbs.

Let’s hope Jennifer Rubin is right and forced-birthers’ total disregard for women will rebound on them.

While it came out before the Dobbs decision, my Undead Sexist Cliches covers a lot of the misogynist and inaccurate thinking that fuels the forced-birth movement. It’s available as a Amazon paperback, an ebook and from several other retailers. Cover by Kemp Ward, all rights remain with current holder.