-Written by Linsay Rousseau, Media Affairs Director for CTS
Since the leaked SCOTUS draft opinion that would completely dismantle Roe v Wade and the right to privacy, we at Continue To Serve have been outraged. It's time for action. We will be holding a protest in front of the Supreme Court on June 4th. Register for the even here. As veterans, this is just one more example of how our country is completely destroying the freedom and democracy we are so often thanked for defending. But what were we defending? Those of us who served in Iraq and Afghanistan know first hand that we weren’t fighting to protect the citizens of those countries. We know that our lives meant little to the politicians making these decisions, resulting in the deaths of thousands of servicemembers and millions of civilians. And I don’t need to remind anyone of the deadly cluster fuck that was the Vietnam War. Meanwhile, Ukraine is being decimated by an authoritarian Russian regime that shows no signs of stopping at their borders and the US and NATO fear the repercussions of an active war with Russia. Back at home, we are watching with horror as the country often thought to be a bastion of liberty is crumbling to dust. As veterans, we know all too well that our lives have little value to those who claim to be protecting us. Thousands of veterans are fighting the Department of Veterans Affairs for disability ratings while even more struggle to gain access to adequate health care. But at least we have health care, which is more than can be said for much of the country.
While the MAGA-loving fascists espouse their dedication to the right to life, this right instantly disappears as soon as the fetus is born. The alt right doesn’t care about the lives of the millions who don’t have access to health care, can’t afford the obscene cost of medications, the thousands who die from gun violence every year, those injured and killed by unlawful police shootings, the homeless who die each year because they don’t have access to adequate mental health care and social services, the children who don’t have access to healthy meals, the parents who can’t adequately provide for their families because they are denied child care credits, free child care or paid maternity and paternity leave, the continued dismantling of Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security, those unjustly put to death in our prison system and the servicemembers they send to die in unjust wars.
Make no mistake, if you are not a Christian, white cis male (and probably a wealthy one at that), you are a second class citizen. There is no equal justice under the law. We are fast approaching an era where women are once again seen as less than human, valued more for our wombs and ability to procreate, with no regard for the health of the women forced into pregnancy. Almost half the states in the country have trigger laws laws poised to go into effect that would halt abortion should Roe be overturned, often referred to as “personhood legislation” (the belief that life begins at conception). In one of the most extreme cases, legislation in Louisiana was voted down today that would have made abortion a homicide (with no exception for rape and incest) and charge women who undergo the procedure with murder. It would also criminalize certain forms of contraception, such as IUDs and Plan B, as it would change the state’s legal definition of a person to a fertilized egg (despite the fact that IUDs and Plan B prevent fertilization, so figure that one out).
The justification for dismantling Roe in Justice Alito’s draft opinion is that, a right to abortion cannot be found in the Constitution or inferred from its provisions. This same rational could be applied to the rights to contraception, same-sex marriage and interracial marriage, rights established by three Supreme Court rulings. And it could extend even further. A May 11th article in The Guardian highlights the threat this reversal poses to IVF treatment. Journalist Stephanie Kirchgaessner writes, “Many states have passed or are debating new proposed legislation that would give full rights to embryos, which in some cases means fertilized eggs, created in the process of IVF and not implanted in a woman, would have the same legal rights as children.” Sean Tipton, the chief advocacy and policy officer of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine said that proposed laws could have “unintended consequences” on issues ranging from ectopic pregnancies to IVF. While the right rails against forced vaccination for a disease that has killed millions of people globally, claiming it violates their bodily autonomy, they have no problem restricting the rights of women to make decisions about their reproductive freedom.
While the rest of the world is expanding abortion access, the US is moving backwards with its forced pregnancy movement. Agnes Callamard, secretary-general of Amnesty International, said in a statement, "there are grim signs that the United States is out of step with the progress that the rest of the world is making in protecting sexual and reproductive rights." I don’t know about you, but I’m not going to quietly standby and watch as the rights that our mothers and grandmothers fought so hard for are dismantled. Everyone must make sure they vote in this election (and every election for that matter). Beyond that, it’s time to take to the streets. We are the majority. We encourage you to join Continue To Serve and our partners as we rally in front of the Supreme Court on June 4th, the anniversary of the passage of the Women's Suffrage Bill, the 19th Amendment. Signup for the event below and follow us on social media to stay up to date with everything we’re doing.
Register: www.eventbrite.com/...
CTS Roe v Wade Merch: store.continuetoserve.vet/...
Twitter: @continuetoserve
IG: @continuetoserve