You may not recall that Brett Kavanaugh was actually an unpopular choice among conservatives when he was announced. They feared he was too wishy-washy. All of that changed when they discovered that he was an alleged rapist. Overnight, they went from milquetoast support to backing his nomination more fiercely than any that came prior. Why was that?
Let’s be honest. It’s not because they believe he didn’t do it. It’s precisely because they believe he did. It’s because rape and limiting abortion have something very strongly in common: both are about control over women. That’s when their support changed and they knew he was their guy.
With Kavanaugh replacing Kennedy on SCOTUS, Roe v. Wade will be overturned–no matter what the imbecile GOP Senator from Maine promised. The only missing piece was the legal challenge.
That’s why Alabama went all in. Banning abortions in ALL circumstances. No exception for the health of the mother. No exception for rape. No exception for incest.
The only exception, in fact, is if you are the wife, daughter, or mistress of an Alabama GOP politician.
But is this law really about abortion?
No, it never was.
After all, if stopping abortion was the primary issue, then the rightwing Alabama legislators would make sex education a priority. They’d fight for access to contraception and birth control. In fact, those same legislators who supported this awful law are the same legislators who fought against all of those things.
At the very least, these politicians could have supported actions that would make it easier for Alabama women to have children. Yet every single action they have taken actually promote abortion—from cutting food stamps, to gutting children’s health care, and refusing to take action against rampant price gouging for child care.
Is this law about life beginning at conception?
That’s complete bullshit. How do I know? Because when it was pointed out that this law would ban in vitro fertilization in Alabama because that involves destroying fertilized embryos, the law was changed to exempt those. Why?
Because Alabama State Senator Clyde Chambliss admitted this wasn’t about “life”. Instead, he actually admitted what this was all about: “The egg in the lab doesn’t apply. It’s not in a woman. She’s not pregnant.”
Too bad those eggs weren’t a product of rape, then they’d have been protected:
So what is it really about? One thing really:
Control.
Control of women.
And keeping control over the poor masses. Alabama is the poorest state in the union. Everything about this law is designed to ensure those mired in poverty will stay in poverty.
After all, rich Alabama women will be able to get abortions very easily. Even if Roe v. Wade is overturned, rich Alabama women will just go to a state where it’s legal. One of the blue ones. Then they’ll enjoy the wealthy, cultured cities for some lite shopping. It’s just a quick flight.
It’s the women in poverty who will be faced with a horrendous choice: being forced to bear a child that they cannot take care of, or resort to a horrible, unsafe method to end it.
The truth is that unless these GOP politicians can figure out a way to only punish poor women, then no law in any of these backwards states will go after them for getting the abortion because it is more than frequent in rich GOP circles. Yet what they will do is punish the network of drivers that will spring up to take these women to their doctor’s appointments out of state, because only poor people will use them. They will also go after the doctors in Alabama because the rich can easily go elsewhere.
The only winner in this awful law is the incestuous rapist in Alabama. These men face less jail time than the doctors who perform abortions on their victims. Let’s face it, they also face less stigma than the women trying to get an abortion. Alabama republicans have no problem with these men. Heck, they nominate child molesters for the Senate. (They also get funding and endorsements.)
Democrats had an opportunity to prevent this tragedy when we had full control of Congress and the Presidency 10 years ago. Weak Democrats didn’t act on this (or any other critical issue, like guns and climate, for that matter). Our only hope is waking up enough people to take our nation back. Democrats have to act now, and not wait for the SCOTUS ruling. This is the hill our Democratic politicians need to prepare to die on. If not, don’t bother asking for our help come election time. Why bother?
I do think Democratic politicians will step up. Sadly, it’s only when the threat of losing our rights is real do we seem to care to protect them.
Unfortunately, that’s when it’s usually too late.
