Extreme abortion bans now enacted in most Republican controlled states have nothing to do with “fetal personhood” or the “right to life” or other false piety cliches.
Like rape, sexual assault, and sexual harassment, these laws are not about sex and procreation — they are about power.
Former President Trump admitted as much in his deposition in the Carroll defamation suit.
These extreme laws are just restatements of the power and control white men have secured and exercised in these United States since well before ratification of the US Constitution.
More than 100 years later, in 1872, Susan B. Anthony was convicted of the crime of voting in a federal election. Birthright citizenship did not grant her the power or authority to control the circumstances of her life – simply because she was a woman.
Similarly, just last week – in 2023 — Republican men in the South Carolina State Senate voted to deny the five women members in their own midst (three of them Republicans) – as well as Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace — aegis over their own bodies.
Talk about “insult on top of injury”.
But gentlemen you’ve made a mistake in South Carolina – actually, a mistake wherever Republican men are in charge today.
We, and I include many of your wives in that “we”, first in the courts and, later, at the ballot box, are going to teach you multi-generational lessons about compassion, economics, equality and power.
THE WOMEN OF AMERICA ARE NOT GOING BACK TO 1920
When the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution gave women the right to vote.
Or to 1940 — before the Second World War propelled women into work outside the home in support of the war effort. Rosy the Riveter demonstrated that anything “you” (guys) “can do, we can do better”.
Perhaps that’s why, today, there are more women than men enrolled in our colleges and universities.
All that virtue signaling about the sanctity of life, personhood at conception etc. – poppycock! Regardless of the slight variations in the various state bans – there is only one possible conclusion.
Compelling women to bear the physical, social and economic risks of pregnancy, regardless of the circumstances, is the last terrorized gasp of men who can’t compete on a level playing field with women.
PIETY OR POWER
Want more proof the actions of these men are not acts of faith or Godly charity? Name a single state that has passed legislation protecting the child instead of punishing the mother or the medical provider?
In which abortion ban is the “father” held even partially responsible for the pregnancy or the (unborn) child in any manner? In zero states is the father held equally responsible in the event of an abortion?
Where is the extension of a state level “child tax credit”?
Where are the improvements to state maternal health programs?
In which state is the “father” compelled to be a parent or pay child support?
Not in a single state.
But by supporting legal attempts to ban abortion medication Mifepristone nationwide, you guys have outfoxed yourselves.
MIFEPRISTONE COURT FIGHT
Most abortions in the United States over the last 20 years have been so-called “medical abortions” using a drug combination of Mifepristone to block progesterone needed to maintain the pregnancy and misoprostol which softens the cervix and allows the embryo to be expelled.
The drug cocktail, approved and monitored by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA), has been on the market for more than 20 years with few reported side effects.
A Texas judge recently ruled the Federal Drug Administration exceeded it’s authority in approving Mifepristone for this use.
If sustained, his ruling would affect a nationwide ban on safe, first trimester abortion in the United States. A ban opposed by as many as 80 percent of Americans.
The crux of the legal argument is that pregnancy is not an illness but (rather) a condition and, therefore, beyond the authority of the FDA.
The counter argument is that pregnancy is a medical condition and, therefore, within the authority of the FDA.
After a stay granted by the US Supreme Court, the Texas district court ruling is now being appealed at the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans. The Fifth is as conservative a federal appeals court as the Ninth is liberal. The three judge panel (including one woman) has allowed the drug to remain on the market, pending further litigation – but with certain restrictions.
Eventually, whether the FDA has authority to approve medicine to treat a condition rather than only an illness will be settled by the Supreme Court of the United States.
But why should women stand around holding picket signs waiting at least two years for that fateful decision?
LADIES, SEIZE THE INITIATIVE
The Texas initiated Mifepristone case has the potential to become a crisis for women all over America – let’s not waste it.
It is time for us to fight “fire with fire” – lawsuit to lawsuit — court to court.
What is “good for the goose” is, also, “good for the gander”. Erectile dysfunction, like pregnancy, is a condition not an illness.
VIAGRA
SCOTUS could find Mifepristone is to pregnancy, as Viagra is to erectile dysfunction — beyond the authority of the FDA?
No Viagra, no penile erection, no coitus, no pregnancy, no need for abortion.
Beyond merely the similarity of condition to condition, statistics show the risk of death from use of Viagra is 10 times higher than the risk posed by the use of Mifepristone in abortions.
Planned Parenthood could save male lives if it filed — either — an amicus brief to the Texas case in the Fifth Circuit or a new lawsuit in New Orleans challenging the FDA authorization of Viagra and similar drugs. Their argument: if pregnancy is a condition — not an illness — and thus, beyond the authority of the FDA — erectile dysfunction is, similarly, a condition, also, beyond the authority of the FDA.
Just imagine the umbrage, the apoplectic reaction of these power hungry, arrogant men “in authority” when they realize the tables have been turned on them?
The rush to the microphones by the likes of Lindsey Graham and Tommy Tuberville. The podcasts by Ted Cruz. The screeds from Truth Social and Twitter.
The picket signs in 2023 must simply read: “what’s good for the goose is good for the gander” against a background of blue pills.
