Sunday 26 June 2022

No, you can't

I don't usually write about politics, but I have to share my shock and dismay at the US Supreme Court's new ruling that the Constitution doesn't include any right to abortion.

It's more than politics of course. It's a major blow to millions of women who for very good reasons don't want to have a child and will now be driven to desperate measures - travelling abroad or to another state, or using back-street abortionists - to free themselves from pregnancy.

Judges Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett voted to overturn Roe v Wade. The other four judges voted to keep the original decision.

As any woman knows, there are many valid reasons for seeking an abortion - the woman was raped, she accidentally became pregnant, she's extremely poor, she's extremely ill, she couldn't cope with another child, the child would be disabled in some way, or the child is incestuous - and forcing her to give birth is cruel and doctrinaire and utterly blind to the circumstances.

Of course the decision to have or not have an abortion should be up to the woman concerned, and it's absurd that the law can intrude on such a personal matter.

Those who oppose abortion sometimes maintain that women "casually" rid themselves of a child, as if they're discarding an unwanted present. They must surely realise the emotional anguish and turmoil that accompanies both the fraught decision to have an abortion and the aftermath of what they have done. To suggest the woman takes the decision lightly is ridiculous.

I can only hope that some way is found to reverse this new ruling and restore the original judgment in Roe v Wade.

(My apologies for all the mansplaining!)

Pic: Judge Amy Coney Barrett, who was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Donald Trump

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NB: Some of your comments are still not appearing on blog posts, but I'm getting them by email so I can transfer them to the blog.

29 comments:

  1. The world really seems to be going backwards

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    1. Kylie: The world has been going backwards for several decades. Social inequality, income inequality, wage cuts, widespread poverty etc etc.

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  2. Ramana Rajgopaul26 June 2022 at 12:33

    I am in total agreement with you. Over here, abortion is legal as part of our family planning programme and if it is banned, it could have serious repercussions.

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    1. Ramana: Good to know that India permits abortions.

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  3. This is just the beginning Nick of major reversals of other rights as in gay marriage, etc. I don't care what a woman's reason is, it's none of my business and I hate to even see it commented on, the speculation as to why. It's her body and her privacy is paramount.
    XO
    WWW

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    1. www: Absolutely. As you say, it could just be the start of a gradual rolling-back of long-established practices.

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  4. I am embarrassed by my current Supreme Court. They don't feel particularly supreme to me.
    Linda Sand

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    1. Linda: Yes, Supreme is hardly the word. The Surreal Court perhaps?

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  5. I fear this is only the first right to fall. All the protections for gender identity could fall next. And on and on. We must fight back with our vote.

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    1. Joanne: I have to say I don't believe in gender identity, only sexual identity. But yes, other rights and freedoms are now in the firing line.

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  6. An excellent post, Nick. Written with true feeling.

    I keep pinching myself: Is this for real? No, surreal.

    Of course, the ruling won't affect those with money who either can let same change hands at a well versed clinic or, otherwise, just buy a plane ticket.

    What eludes me: Why? Why, oh why?

    As to the often cited "woman's right to her body". Yes, of course. But, also and just as important, what of the rights of a child, an unwanted child (for whatever reason), to NOT be born?

    Outraged doesn't cover it, Nick,

    U

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  7. Ursula: Indeed, what about the right of a child NOT to be born? As you say, those with money will simply buy their way to a discreet abortion. And those without will resort to desperate and dangerous measures.

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  8. Very disturbing, this taking away established rights. Where will it end?

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    1. Colette: Extremely disturbing. What other longstanding rights do the "turn the clock back brigade" have in their sights?

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  9. Ms Scarlet: Your comment didn't appear on my post. You said: "It's a kick in the gut. An appalling decision. Trump's fault - bastard - I hope he gets his comeuppance."

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    1. Ms Scarlet: I can only nurse the same hope.

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  10. When I look at Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh, I see privilege. They suffer from not knowing what it is to have your beliefs questioned and shattered by reality. I don't think someone should get an abortion. I am humble enough to know I have never had my back to the wall and felt I needed an abortion. I've never had a problem with a child in utero who will needlessly suffer if they are brought to birth.

    The United States is descended from economic refugees. But we are also descended from the malcontents and religious fanatics. In doing genealogy, it is amazing to me how many ancestors I had that left England because they were on the wrong side of the English Civil War. I guess it is our destiny.

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    1. Ann: I can't imagine how hard it is for a woman to be forced to give birth to an unwanted child and have to struggle to love that child.

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  11. Beatrice: Your comment didn't appear on my post. You said: "Like yourself and others have commented, Nick, this reversal does seem a backwards step. I wonder how many of these right-to-life supporters would be willing to take in a child born of an unwanted pregnancy because a woman could not get an abortion. Personally, I have never had to face such a decision and can only imagine how difficult it can be, but sometimes it is absolutely the best choice."

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    1. Beatrice: Indeed, how many pro-lifers would take in the unwanted children they've forced into the world? And how many have given the mothers a hefty donation towards bringing up the child?

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  12. Mary: Your comment didn't appear on my post. You said: "I just cannot believe what the Supreme Court has done."

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    1. Mary: It's believable if you bear in mind that Republicans (and some Democrats) have been busting a gut to get the Roe v Wade decision overturned ever since it became law.

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  13. You wrote, "I can only hope that some way is found to reverse this new ruling and restore the original judgment in Roe v Wade."

    The way our judicial system works, I don't see that happening. The best we can hope for, I think, is for federal legislation, but I think that is a dim hope. It would have to be something that overrides "states' rights."

    In the US Constitution, "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

    This is why abortion is now illegal in some states, but legal in others. I know it seems strange to people in other countries that things can be so different from state to state, but this was part of what it took to knit the former colonies into the United States.

    Our state, Arkansas, was one of those that had a trigger law that made abortion illegal if Roe v. Wade was overturned. We don't have enough foster care families as it stands now. I foresee the need for more in the near future but fear that it's not going to get any better. The people that wanted this got what they wanted, but I don't see them making any provisions for the consequences.

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    1. Mike: "I don't see them making any provisions for the consequences." Exactly. They want their ideological victory, but they're not so interested in what happens to the women they've "regulated". Yes, I understand how the US legal system works, and the autonomy of individual states. That certainly makes the situation more complicated. Democrats will have their work cut out to restore the original Roe v Wade judgment.

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  14. " Of course the decision to have or not have an abortion should be up to the woman concerned, and it's absurd that the law can intrude on such a personal matter. "
    what can be said? our entire society is so Broken.
    a greatpost. but pointless in the face of a court that is elected for LIFE and seems to have no real connection to the impoverished and people Most at risk... the little chlldren who never Asked for life!
    so many of them enter it already damaged both physically and mentally. a sad day.

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    1. Tammy: As you say, the Supreme Court seems to have no real connection to ordinary people and their struggles. They're privileged, wealthy people who live in a world of their own.

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  15. The issue should never have been politicized in the first place which makes me really angry. It's not the business of anyone else as it's her body that is growing that seed. It's a matter between a woman, her doctor and/or whoever she might choose to consult, including the man who impregnated her in some instances.

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    1. Joared: Exactly, it should never have been turned into a political football. But there are still plenty of men who want to tell women what to do.

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