The news that the Supreme Court might overturn Roe coincided with the Taliban’s announcement ordering women to be covered from head to toe when they leave the house. The threat of extremism that runs through these decisions is an alarming sign for women’s rights around the world. Even Saudi Arabia’s laws on abortion are better than those on the books in some red states in the U.S. An abortion in Saudi Arabia is legal in cases of risk to a woman’s life, fetal impairment, or to protect a woman’s physical and mental health.
It is heartbreaking that Ruth Bader Ginsburg did not resign early during Obama’s second term. At her age and because of the state of her health, she should have. She played dice with her legacy, and she lost. It is a travesty that she was replaced by Barrett.
The overturning of Roe represents turbocharged minority rule. Over 60 percent of Americans currently believe a woman should have the right of choice over what happens to her own body. Until we deal as a nation with the fundamental issue of minority representation in government at the federal level, we will never have a government that makes laws that represent everyone.
If Roe is nullified, Americans will have allowed Mitch McConnell to rig the Supreme Court and ban a woman’s constitutional right to privacy and to control her own body. Additionally, to make matters worse, we now have a group of Republican senators who are trying to create a set of federal laws that will override state laws and make abortion illegal across the whole of our nation. Basically, this could easily happen because the U.S. has a counter-majoritarian government in place.
Right now, the Senate is split evenly but the 50 Democratic senators represent 41.5 million more people than the 50 Republican senators. By 2040, if population trends continue, 70% of Americans will be represented by just 30 senators and 30% of Americans by 70 senators.
In the immediate future I wonder what happens when blue states sue red states, and they refuse to comply with each other’s laws? Roe has opened these flood gates. Who will enforce all these oppositional laws? If blue states refuse extradition of offenders, who will cross state borders to remove and incarcerate private citizens? Certainly not the FBI since they will have no state jurisdiction once Roe ceases to be a federal law.
Will the Republicans force through an act in Congress similar to the Fugitive Slave Act? It was one of the major factors that led to the Civil War. Perhaps blue states will enact laws similar to the Refugee Act of 1980 which provided for resettlement of refugees (for women and their families seeking abortions in states like Texas where they are being subjected to Stasi-like tactics). Perhaps we can ask the Saudi Arabians for funding for programs like these since they are much more progressive in this area than the Republican party in the U.S. From a PR perspective that would be genius. Talk about turning the moral tables …
Photo by Ian Hutchinson on Unsplash
