ROE VS WADE STRUCK DOWN

Today a leak of a US Supreme Court document revealed that the court was about to overturn the Roe Vs Wade ruling of 1973 that kept abortion legal nationwide.  While this is no surprise given the current makeup of the court, it still is a game changing decision that could affect the country for decades to come.  

Although the ruling was made in 1973, abortion didn't really become a political issue until 1980 when then president Ronald Reagan aligned his party with the religious, anti-abortion, right.  Ever since, Republican opposition to abortion has been the only stance allowed for the vast majority of Republican politicians.  And now, after over forty years of fighting, the Christian conservatives have finally gotten what they wanted. 

Personally, I think that is utterly despicable.  It infuriates me that the same Republicans who oppose expanding medicaid, demonize families that get food stamps, and vote against paid family leave or national daycare, claim that they care more about "life". To me, this ruling treats women as second class citizens, unable to make their own decisions.  And to add an extra kick in the ribs to this ruling, all 3 of Donald Trump's court appointees (Neil M. Gorsuch, Brett M. Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett) voted  to overturn.  Yes, the same man who once described himself as "extremely pro choice" and refused to answer when asked if he had ever paid for a woman's abortion,  put the 3 judges on the court who have now tipped the balance of the court  taken away a woman's right to choose.  While Trump may have changed his views on abortion when he became a Republican, his lifelong record of  misogyny has truly come full circle.

 This decision was hardly made because of some mandate from the people, in fact, according to a 2021 Pew research poll, a whopping 70% of the American public do not agree with this ruling, and that number has been slowly but surely creeping up higher and higher over the past few years.   The decision to have an abortion is perhaps the single most contentious issue in the country,  but it is clear that most Americans feel that it is one best made by the woman herself and not the government.   And I can't help but think about how a stunning 53% of white women voted for Trump over Hillary Clinton in 2016.  Considering how many of those women were pro choice, how will they feel  now when millions of them discover themselves living in a state where they and they daughters will  have their rights taken away?  

Right now there is nothing that pro choice Americans can do; the court's ruling has been made, and probably half of the states in this country will pass laws restricting or banning abortions.  But now that the pro choice side is on the defensive, it's time for them to organize and motivate themselves like the anti choice movement did decades ago.  If the pro choice movement starts registering more similarly minded voters and getting them to the polls, the results could be a huge backlash against the Republican party, with those white female suburban voters  finally turning against them.  It's possible.  In any event, this ruling has pushed the issue of abortion into politics in a big way for the first time in decades, and who knows how it will turn out.