Written by Linsay Rousseau, Media Affairs Director for Continue To Serve
The gutting of Roe v Wade is poised to be one of the greatest threats to women in the modern era. Welcome back to the 19th Century ladies, hope you have your fainting couches ready. The draft memo by Justice Samuel Alito argued that Roe implies certain rights that aren’t spelled out in the Constitution, namely, privacy, are protected. Welp, that sucks. But at least it will suck both ways (because let’s be honest, it’s all oral sex from this point forward. We all know how well pulling out works). With the elimination of Roe, we may lose the right to privacy and bodily anomaly, but at least we could make the lives of those forcing this on us miserable as well. Here’s what the elimination of Roe could mean beyond abortion. Remember, ending Roe, which carries the legacy of the right to privacy, can in turn have devastating consequences for other privacy rights. This could in fact be the end of the 14th Amendment. Don’t say I didn’t warn you Republicans.
Join us June 4th on the steps of SCOTUS. www.vets4choice.com
Remember when Republicans were chanting “our bodies, ourselves” in response to vaccine mandates? Sorry folks. With the elimination of Roe, you don’t get to make that argument anymore. Prepare the CVS parking lots, the era of forced vaccinations is here. Your body no longer belongs to you, it belongs to the state (As veterans we know all about that. I still have no idea how many vaccinations I received in basic training). They now get to give you as many vaccinations as they want But hey, maybe we’ll be able to avoid a future pandemic.
Ah, forced sterilization. Something that has long be outlawed by the United Nations. Fun fact, it’s still legal in most of the United States. California was still forcibly sterilizing people in prison as recent as 2010. Just two years ago, a whistleblower revealed that forced sterilization was going on in ICE detention centers in Georgia. Who’s to say that those in power can’t start mandating that other groups of people get sterilized (not just the disabled, minorities and the poor)? I’m looking at you Marjorie Taylor Green?
Let’s talk about gay marriage. To all the gays who voted for Trump and are married to a same sex partner, say goodbye to your spouse. Obergefell v. Hodges will be just one more casualty of revoking Roe v. Wade. And even if you don’t get married, your sex life is still under threat. The same reasoning could be applied to sodomy laws, which were outlawed under Lawrence v. Texas. While these were traditionally targeted at the LGBTQIA+ community, they are general enough to appear as they apply to everyone as they criminalized sexual behavior deemed inappropriate by the state. Hope you enjoy the missionary position, because that’s all you’ll be left with.
Now let’s turn to interracial marriage. The possibility of a challenge to Loving v. Virginia, the 1967 decision that legalized interracial marriage, should be taken seriously. Isn’t it ironic that one of the justices deciding to abolish Roe v. Wade (Clarence Thomas) could be doing so at the risk of dooming his own marriage. Sorry Ginni Thomas, hope you’ve enjoyed your access to the higher echelons of power and your attempt to steal the election for Trump, but your marriage is no longer valid.
And what about contraception? I’m not talking about the so-called abortifacients that the forced pregnancy movement opposes (IUDs and Plan B), but plain old birth control. The right to access to contraception was decided by the Supreme Court in Griswold v Connecticut. In an article with The Guardian, Wendy Parmet, faculty co-director for the Center for Health Policy and Law at Northeastern University, stated that “If this [draft] opinion becomes the opinion of the court, Griswold is imperiled – no question.” How many Republican women out there are on birth control? I honestly don’t know, but over 70% of all American women use some form of birth control. Hope you all enjoy not having your health insurance cover that because now you have no right to it. Remember, the state controls your womb. Think women are going to have a career on their own terms? Think again. You’ll be stuck at home with your ten kids. So all the Republican women in Congress will need to retire immediately. And lets be honest, a lot of the men to. Do you know how much it costs to raise 10 kids? Not something easily done on a government salary.
But surly in vitro fertilization is safe? After all, it’s creating life? IVF is a procedure women from all walks of life have taken advantage of. Over one million babies were born in the US between 1987 and 2015 through the use of IVF or other assisted reproductive technologies. According to the latest research, infertility rates in the US are rising. It impacts one in eight couples of reproductive age. Sorry. No more IVF for you. Those eggs are now considered people. During the IVF process, multiple fertilized embryos are created, many of which are ultimately discarded. With the ending of Roe,some states,like Louisiana, are proposing “personhood” laws, laws that define embryos as people at the moment of conception. Meaning their destruction is murder.
I almost forgot to mention health care. Are you a conservative who took advantage of the Affordable Care Act? Apparently there are a lot of you. In 2022, the highest number of signups for the ACA were in Florida (2.6 million, a jump of 23% from last year) and Texas (the state with the highest uninsured rate saw 1.7 million people sign up, a jump of 33%). Well, you can kiss that goodbye. Should the Supreme Court decide to review health care, the five justices preparing to overturn Roe could easily overturn the ACA. After all, conservatives consider that to be evil socialism. And while we're at it let’s end Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security. Because, you know, more socialism. Wait, that means Mississippi and Louisiana are the most socialist states and California is one of the least? That’s not what the Republicans told me.
Well, there you have it folks. The “What if…?” of Roe v. Wade. We all know it’s going away, so let’s try and look on the bright side of life (as Monty Python would say). Perhaps this means the end of Supreme Court spouses involving themselves in illegal election actions (Ginni Thomas), a reduction in procreation and the creation of more conservatives (sorry Amy Coney Berrett, you don’t get to be on the Supreme Court anymore, you need to be home with the kids). If we’re going to destroy Roe v. Wade then let’s just burn down the entire house. Constitutional literalism or originalism doesn’t end with Roe, it will expand into every facet of life you currently take for granted. All those conservatives who want the government out of their lives just kicked down the door to allow them to control every aspect of their lives.