First, the Supreme Court eliminated the federal right to an abortion when they overturned Roe v. Wade. Clarance Thomas made clear in his majority opinion this could also lead the way to overturning contraception, same-sex, and even his own interracial marriage rights. Samuel Alito referenced a 16th century judge who burned women as witches and believed they were their husband’s property.
The Supreme Court threw abortion rights back to individual states and now we have fifty different laws governing the United States of America. Over half instituted restrictive laws, even the health of the mother or rape and incest aren’t reasons for the medical procedure. Some want to enact unconstitutional laws that allow them to prosecute “women and her accomplices” if they dare to cross state lines.
Arizona just overturned the despicable 1864 law that was triggered into effect when Roe v. Wade was overturned. The real question is who were the dozens of legislatures who wanted it to remain in effect, destroying not just abortion rights, but women’s health as well?
Those pushing fetal personhood laws are demanding pregnant women be put second to a fetus incapable of living outside the womb, even when it’s no longer viable. As Alito did when the Supreme Court actually agreed to hear a case demanding woman shouldn’t be covered equally under the federal mandate to offer emergency care in life threatening situations.
Alito pointed to a provision in the emergency medical treatment act that requires hospitals to offer stabilizing care to a pregnant woman’s “unborn child.” Saying, “This would by logic mean the fetus gets less care. It seems that the plain meaning is that the hospital must try to eliminate any immediate threat to the child but performing an abortion is antithetical to that duty.”
Some states have passed laws condemning IVF, in vitro fertilization, that gives parents the opportunity to have children, as murder when a fertilized egg doesn’t implant. Others are threatening to make contraception, the epitome of control over a woman’s life and future, illegal.
But they have no intention of stopping there. It seems all women’s rights and forcing us back to a time when we couldn’t speak our minds, vote, own property, or work outside the home- are on the chopping block.
The speaker of the house, second in-line to the President, espoused his Christian values and dogma in a 2016 sermon when he said, “No fault divorce with abortion and feminism has turned America into a completely amoral society.”
He actually blamed mass shootings on both the teachings of evolution and abortions because of “The cultural elites and academics in the 1930’s who pushed the theories of Darwinism and erased the influence of Christian thinking and creationism. The shootings come from teaching there’s no right or wrong, it’s about the survival of the fittest, and we’ve evolved from the primordial slime so there’s nobody sacred to who it’s owed.”
Studies have proved it was women who suffered before no fault divorces became the norm. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, there was a 20% decline in female suicide and domestic rape after they were enacted.
In 1990 I divorced my husband. I did not have to air our personal issues nor beg the court to free me from an untenable situation. My daughter was far better off with a parent who could take care of her needs and nurture her soul.
I was married in the synagogue, under religious as well as secular law. In the Orthodox Jewish faith I am his property. He can discard me at any time. I must get his permission and submit it to the Rabbi for approval. As a result, I am still legally married in Israel.
Texas and Arkansas have passed laws that bind pregnant women to their spouses. Missouri laws require a woman to disclose her maternal status so that judges can prevent them from finalizing a divorce until the courts have jurisdiction over the unborn child.
Louisiana state house legislatures have now passed a law making legally available-by-mail abortion and controlled miscarriage pills, like Mifepristone, a controlled medication equal to heroin with a five-year jail term if someone has them without a prescription.
More and more, these conservative groups are pushing their agendas.
Last weekend NFL kicker, Harrison Butker, spoke at the Benedictine College graduation stating the four years and incredible expenses all the women spent achieving their hard-earned degrees wasn’t their most important role. He made clear attending to their future husband and children’s needs were. Even though his own mother is a medical physicist on staff at Emory University’s radiation oncology department since 1988.
He went on to denounce abortion rights, pride month, COVID-19 lockdowns and the “tyranny of diversity, equity and inclusion.” Urging men to fight against “cultural emasculation”. Even referencing words from his co- player girlfriend’s song- the powerful, strong, world renowned, anything but a homemaker-Taylor Swift.
Apparently when a woman gets married, all options are forfeited.
Everyone is entitled to their opinions.
It’s when opinions stop being a choice, and are turned into a mandate for all, that the problem begins. This movement to push women back to the dark ages is an affront to the years, lives and deaths of those who gave everything for the freedoms we cherish today- and all too often take for granted. It’s just begun. The rights they fought so hard for us to achieve are being whittled away.
We stand on their shoulders. Will we push the next generation to higher heights? Or allow ourselves to be thrown to the ground and trampled once again?
Having a career, degrees, children, husbands, and a womb, does not give anyone the right to decide our futures.
-https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/news/harrison-butker-mom-elizabeth-butker-physicist-emory/870327bf08bbb6e84675a156#:~:text=Butker’s%20mother%2C%20Elizabeth%20Butker%2C%20is,the%20same%20department%20at%20Emory
-https://www.nber.org/digest/mar04/divorce-laws-and-family-violence
-https://meidasnews.com/news/new-speaker-mike-johnson-blamed-school-shootings-on-the-teaching-of-evolution
https://www.npr.org/2024/05/16/1251778598/nfl-harrison-butker-commencement-speech-backlash
-https://www.npr.org/2024/05/02/1248634160/pregant-women-in-some-states-arent-permitted-to-legally-finalize-divorces