Justice Amy Coney Barrett casually poo-pooed the right to an abortion when she heard arguments in Dobbs. What's all the fuss she seemed to say. Moms who can't keep their babies or who don't want their babies can give the baby to a state-sanctioned Safe Haven found in all states. No problem. No big deal. Barrett made the process seem as simple as returning an unwanted gift to Walmart.
Barrett either forgot to point out or deliberately didn't point out that Safe Havens are a choice only for a certain kind of mother—the poor mother, the poor woman living in a red state unable to get an abortion. This poor pregnant woman will have to carry a fetus to term for nine months and give the baby to a Safe Haven. A rich white woman can book a coach or first-class seat on a blue-state Abortion Express and find relief from her pregnancy in a day or two. There is a big difference between the two experiences. One involves nine months of stress and suffering; the other gives quick relief. The poor have always had to suffer because they have no other choice.
For valid reasons, pregnant women, rich and poor, living in red states will want abortions. But only the rich woman, probably white, will be able to get one. The poor woman or teenager won't. Barret won't say that. She and the other five anti-abortion-only-for-poor-women Justices will not say that well-off women in red states will continue to enjoy Roe v. Wade, no matter what the Six Red-State Justices rule on Dobbs.
Barrett's Safe Haven remark betrays a cruel, tone-deaf, fuck-you indifference to poor women trapped in red states, unable to get abortions. Barrett and the other five anti-abortion-only-for-poor-women Justices know that this inequality exists between the poor and rich living in red states. They don't care. They should pull their black robes over their heads in shame.
