Should we be surprised that our local privileged white male warriors for personal freedom, columnists Dale Courtney (May 11) and Scotty Anderson (May 14), declared their enthusiastic support for overturning Roe v. Wade in hopes of passing the fate of women’s 14th Amendment rights to the whims of mostly male state legislatures? These paragons of justice are in good company with the likes of George Will and other conservative writers who are deeply concerned about the dignity of embryos but not of the dignity and right to bodily autonomy for women (Lewiston Tribune, May 15).
In sharp contrast to all the patriarchal strutting, one of our outstanding woman columnists (Jade Stellmon) shared a poignant view about the need to talk openly and clearly about women’s reproductive health (May 11). Her call for more women’s voices at the table is not only spot on, but it highlights the fact that out of 15 regularly contributing local columnists for this page, only four are women and majority of our writers are white and the majority have passed the half-century mark. Viewed in this light it is kind of depressing until you look at last weekend’s edition of the Tribune and find six contributed columns, all from men (five of whom are white), and none of the more progressive contributors put any energy into addressing the Justice Alito draft decision for overturning Roe v. Wade. As unrepresentative as this page is, it could be worse.
Alito’s bizarre opinion, which is in direct contradiction to his statements during his confirmation hearings (yes, he is a liar), takes some serious detours off the deep end. Among other things he declares that constitutional rights must be “deeply rooted” in the nation’s history and tradition, and this just isn’t the case for abortion. Big surprise there … no women were invited to participate with writing the Constitution, nor was abortion on the radar at the time. It is also notable that there is nothing in the Constitution that grants personhood to a fetus either. Apparently, made up rights are in the eye of the beholder.
Alito goes further by relying on the writings of a 17th Century English jurist, Sir Matthew Hale. Hale was a flaming misogynist who penned the infamous marital rape exemption, still popular amongst conservative Christian congregations, whereby husbands could not be charged with rape if the victim was their lawful wife. Hale considered abortion to be murder, which tells you what Alito and his fellow jurists plan for American women.
In some ways, it is painful to watch the contortions that conservatives must make to justify their attacks on women’s rights. Religion features prominently in this debate, but there is zero support for their position in Christian scripture. The only relevant passage is Exodus 21:21-25, which clearly indicates that the fetus was viewed as property back in the Bronze Age. From a relative time-span perspective, doesn’t that mean that there are no deeply rooted Biblical traditions for prohibitions against abortion? Instead, religious conservatives make up rights for embryos out of nothing, but apparently that is OK as long as it fits their political agenda.
And what is the response from the Republican standard bearer (i.e., Fox News)? Outrage that Alito’s draft opinion was leaked. Justice Clarence Thomas, husband of Jan. 6 co-conspirator Gini Thomas and justice who does not recuse himself when he has obvious conflicts of interest, declared that the leak was an unthinkable breach of trust. What a shame. The justice’s perceived right to privacy, which is a made up right that cannot be found in the U.S. Constitution, was violated as they debate taking away the right to privacy from American women. Gosh, I really feel so sorry for them.
If Roe v. Wade is overturned, the negative impacts will be wide and disproportionately devastating to the poor. Nearly 25% of women in America have had an abortion in their lives. With 22 states prepared to dramatically curtail if not criminalize abortion, this ruling will mean immediate loss of abortion access to roughly 75,000 women who would have otherwise accessed this right … and more women will die to satisfy the interests of conservative demagogues. This is pure and simple misogyny.
Call parked his raft on the Palouse over 20 years ago, but he still needs many river miles to escape the insanity of this world.
