Well, that’s it. They did it. They overturned Roe v. Wade. Let’s face it, we all knew this was coming, and not just when the draft opinion was leaked. Roe has been hanging by a thread for decades, held up only by a series of Supreme Court decisions. We all knew the moment that the right-wing got control of the court, that would be it for abortion rights. And the right-wing isn’t likely to stop there.
So, then. What do we do now?
We must vote! Let’s show everyone that a midterm doesn’t have to lose seats for the presidential party. Let’s keep control of the House and the Senate, maybe even expand control!
And then?
We can codify Roe into law!
Which will last right up until that law gets appealed to the Supreme Court.
So then, we amend the Constitution!
Seriously? You’re going to get 37 states to ratify that amendment? There are currently 13 states that have already banned abortion outright, and possibly more on the way.
Well, Congress could expand the court —
They won’t. If they had the stones to try, they would have done so already. Like I said, we all knew this was coming. The time to expand the court was before they started burning our rights away, not after.
Then let’s impeach those justices! They lied in their hearings —
Nobody is going to impeach the justices. First off, proving that they lied in their hearings isn’t as simple as some believe. They’ll just claim that they meant what they said at the time, but changed their mind after hearing arguments. But that’s all irrelevant anyway. The last year has proven what an empty threat impeachment is. Sure, we could put on a big show, but there’s never going to be 67 votes to convict, so in the end, they’ll all remain on the bench, feeling completely vindicated and ready to carve away even more of our rights.
So, again: What do we now?
We need to protest! Get a million people on the grass in DC! Numbers like that will let everyone know how serious we are! We will not be ignored!
Or else what?
What do you mean “or else what”?
What do you plan to do if— no, make that when they ignore you? Do you have any idea how many protests there are every day in DC? The days when protests were shocking and riveting are long over. Oh sure, the massive size of the protest is going to get you a day or two of news coverage, then the protest will be over and the news will move onto something else.
Protests alone don’t change anything. It’s the threat behind those protests that prompts changes. When crowds fill the streets in a European country, and someone resigns, or a law gets repealed, do you think it was the mere presence of the crowd that prompted the change? No, of course not. It was fear of the crowd that made those in power act.
Meanwhile, our protests are scheduled for a certain day and time, to run exactly so many hours. Like good law-abiding citizens, we always make sure to get our permits. We all show up, chant some slogans and wave our signs. We listen to some inspiring speeches. Then we all go home. I guess we’re now inspired to vote? Like we weren’t before? And about voting, see above.
Too often, our side relies on the idea that all we have to do to effect change is to register our displeasure loudly enough. Vote in every election, march up and down the street waving signs (but be sure to get that permit!), post memes on social media, let everyone know just how PISSED OFF you are!!
I hate to tell you this, but the Other Side does not give one single shit how pissed off you are. And they are rapidly engineering it so that they don’t ever have to. Gerrymandering limits the power of our vote in the House. The Senate has never been a representative body and is becoming even less so as progressives concentrate themselves in blue states. And now the Republicans are threatening to take Presidential elections out of the hands of the voters. Don’t think they won’t.
At some point, we will have to accept that we have lost this phase of the war, and we will have to shift to resistance mode. That means actively breaking state laws that are taking away rights women have had for generations. That means the kind of protests that don’t ask for permits. The kind that don’t disperse until we get what we want.
It could be a hard sell. After all, we’re the good guys. It’s the other side that threatens to tear things down if they don’t get what they want. They’re the seditionists. We just want the Constitution as we always known it, our rights as we’ve always known them. We don’t want to break the law. I’ll be honest, I don’t know that I’m up for that myself!
But when your enemy has declared that no holds are barred, when they are set on fighting dirty, we can’t defend ourselves, much less win, if we continue to play by the rules.
So, I ask again?
What do we do now?
