For the record, I am 100% in favor of body autonomy; especially when it comes to medical procedures that should be made in the privacy of our medical provider’s office.
I hate to be the bearer of tough news, but neither Democrats, nor Republicans care about women or babies. The abortion issue is a convenient political football that can be kicked around. The recent SCOTUS decision on Roe v. Wade sent the partisans of both political parties into a frenzy: the decision energized both bases. It’s also an inconvenient truth that the Supreme Court of the U.S. is the most exclusive (unelected) body in the world, dedicated to supporting the crimes of the rulers—with few exceptions throughout U.S. history. SCOTUS was instituted from the beginning to protect the criminal, elite, slave-owners from us rabble. If the SCOTUS was the “supreme law of the land,” why did a bloody civil war need to be fought to theoretically end chattel slavery?
Because the political energy from their voters has been strong for decades, if Democrats cared about women in reality, the times they have had solid majorities and the presidency, they could have codified Roe into Federal law. But besides protecting a woman’s right to choose a medical procedure, they could have fought against rightwing reactionaries for better access to birth control and education. Since the Democrat majority nominated and confirmed a woman to the SCOTUS that pretends she doesn’t know what a woman is, because she’s not a biologist. Hmm, I am not an arborist, but I know what a tree is; I am not a seamstress, but I know what clothes are. See? The Democrats have been leading proponents in the marginalization of women. May I also remind you, that when the Dems had a super-majority in 2009 and 2010, they FAILED miserably to pass a rational/national healthcare system, again, pledging their fealty to big pHARMa and health insurance companies.
Since this decision was on the way, I have seen little, if any, exposition of the fact that women still don’t have protection under the U.S. Constitution, and we are still paid a fraction of men’s salaries. Maybe if women and children didn’t have a high incidence of poverty/homelessness/insecurity in this country, we could get to the point where abortion would be what we have long said, “legal and easily accessible for ALL women, yet rare, with no stigma attached.”
This SCOTUS decision will not stop abortion, it will just force women to either give birth to unwanted and unwelcome babies,travel to different areas, OR have unsafe procedures. FYI: women have always terminated pregnancies and it is hypocritical, (to say the very least), to know that the poorer a woman is, the least opportunity she will have. If the GOP cared about babies, would it not be busy passing legislation that supports women: access to quality pre-and post-natal care? Family/maternity leave? Safe daycare and schools that provide quality education and further support to families in the form of food security, housing, peace, a sustainable environment, etc? Maybe, just maybe, some women observe a world that is hostile to life no matter how much lip-service is given to being “pro-life.”
I think the major problem of both sides of both of these issues, is that people look to the U.S. government to be the moral or ethical arbiter of anything.
Both sides support a genocidal war machine and liberals support a genocidal medical machine: both of these machines are there to support profits over people—Congress is there to support genocide all over the world as long as their power and bank accounts remain mostly intact.
Logically, who can believe a country that allows the spraying of toxic chemicals on our genetically modified food, cares about our well-being?
Logically, who can believe a country that allows its citizens to drink and bathe in poison water cares about our well-being?
Logically, who can believe a country that imprisons a large percentage of its (mostly minority) citizens in brutal prisons for profit cares about our well-being?
Logically, who can believe a country that provides unsafe, low-quality, high cost education to its youth cares about our well-being?
Logically, who can believe that a country that provides low-quality, high-cost “health” “care” to the 99% cares about our well-being?
I guess I could write about these contradictions from our treacherous political class all day, really, I could, but I don’t think many have the will to do what really needs to be done: stop allowing ourselves to be co-opted by the greed and brutality of the 1%, including their political and media toadies.
I realize that pointing out the hypocrisies doesn’t help people, but we need to wake up and how can we do that without information? What can we the people do to overturn politicians—which are really the manifestation of metastatic cancer spreading across every aspects of our lives? Workers can find ways to support each other with real help and not allow the cancerous federal government to spread onto our bodies, or communities.
I know I am going to get some opposition from both sides about this post. However, I am not trying to be a contrarian, or mislead people. I am human and I do want people to “like” me, but I am also just so weary of the absurdity of the hypocrisies that are endemic to American life.
The 2nd most exclusive entity in the world, and even more criminal than SCOTUS is the U.S. Senate--abolish both.
I totally agree with you. I'm smacking my head that anyone dare act indignant at the Roe decision (which, incidentally, will not change legal access to abortion for the majority of women in the majority of circumstances-- Reason.com wrote a good piece summarizing this) when in the last year, bodily autonomy was not only unceremoniously stripped away via vaccine mandates but actually cheered on by most the same people crying "my body, my choice" now. And they don't even see it.
You're absolutely right that neither major party nor the government in general gives a rip about women-- or anyone, really. There are countless examples, as you point out. The refusal to really let that sink in is at the heart of why these controversies live on, which both parties use as convenient tools of political manipulation.