We All Have To Live With The Consequences Of Our Decisions
The Supreme Court Overturned Roe v. Wade And Maybe There Will Be Hell To Pay
On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court ruled that the United States Constitution did not confer a constitutional right to abortion: Roe v. Wade was overruled. Millions of American women lost the right to abortion, some almost instantly, many others within the month, and in the words of Stephen Breyer, Elena Kagan, and Sonia Sotomayor, “With sorrow—for this Court, but more, for the many millions of American women who have today lost a fundamental constitutional protection—we dissent.”
Hillary Clinton, who wrote in What Happened, “We all have to live with the consequences of our decisions,” in this case electing Donald Trump in 2016 and him nominating and Senate Republicans confirming 3 Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn Roe, said it better than I can.
Before I get any further into the weeds and technicalities about Dobbs:
I generally save the personal anecdotes for my other newsletter, but since it’s relevant to the conversation at hand, I’m going to start by talking about myself.
I have an IUD, college degree, full-time job, excellent health insurance, and financial and emotional support from my parents if I need it, and if I got pregnant today, I’d get an abortion.
I have early-onset osteoporosis due to my history of anorexia so I physically can’t carry a child to term without facing the possibility of my spine shattering into a million pieces, and I’m unwilling to risk paralysis or death to have a biological child.
I live in Washington D.C., and my parents live in Washington state so obtaining an abortion likely won’t be an issue on the off-chance my IUD fails, but it makes me feel physically ill that in large swathes of this country I call mine, the life of a nonexistent child is worth more than my own. There are women like me in Houston and Atlanta and Madison, and they deserve the right to live long, healthy lives just like I do and yes, to become mothers whenever and however they choose.
But that being said, I shouldn’t have to disclose my trauma and health history to prove I deserve the right to bodily autonomy. “I don’t want to get stretch marks” is as good as reason as any for a woman not wanting to be pregnant, but I digress.
To address some common misconceptions that are floating around social media:
Barack Obama had a supermajority for less than 100 days total during his presidency, and in that time he passed the ACA and signed several important bills into law like the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, and most importantly, didn’t ever have 60 pro-choice votes to codify Roe! The only reason Dems had 60 seats in 2009 for like a few months is because we held seats in Nebraska and Arkansas and South Dakota like those weren’t pro-choice senators and the current Democratic Senate caucus is MUCH more pro-choice than the 2009 caucus, even with Joe Manchin as the deciding vote.
Things Biden and Democratic leadership can’t do right now:
Codify Roe now (we don’t have the votes)
Impeach Supreme Court justices (we don’t have the votes)
Decide the court is illegitimate and ignore its decisions (how?)
Open abortion clinics on federal lands and Indian reservations (the Supreme Court ruled like 2 days ago that people can still be prosecuted for federal crimes on federal land)
Simply put, don’t listen to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), basically everything she’s saying ranges from wrong because Democrats don’t have the votes to wrong because following her advice will get you arrested.
What Can Democrats Do Now?
On the state level:
Make sure Democrats win and hold as many governorships as possible. Electing Tony Evers, Gretchen Whitmer in Wisconsin and Michigan, and Josh Shapiro in Pennsylvania is imperative because they’re the firewall preventing WI/MI/PA from turning into Arkansas due to the states’ far-right legislatures.
In North Carolina, voters have to vote for Democrats in the state legislature. All the anarcho-socialists in Raleigh know that the one thing preventing them from turning into well, Arkansas is their Democratic Governor Roy Cooper, who can’t veto insane legislation if voters give Republicans a supermajority this November.
In red states, there are several ballot initiatives coming up, the first of which is Kansas on August 3.
On the federal level, there’s really only one answer: vote for enough Democratic senators to codify Roe v. Wade into law and vote for enough House Democrats to retain Democrats’ tenuous majority. Of course, the Supreme Court could strike down legislation like they did with the Voting Rights Act but if they struck down a law that was passed through the Senate and the House of Representatives and signed into law by the president, that’s much more difficult to justify than if they struck down an executive order as presidential overreach.
After the Women’s Health Protection Act didn’t pass and Dobbs dropped, Schumer needs to start putting narrower bills on the Senate floor to a vote. This is all a stopgap until Democrats can win majorities to codify Roe v. Wade (assuming the Supreme Court doesn’t strike it down) but if even a few lives in Alabama and Mississippi and Louisiana are saved, it’ll be worth it.
Start with a simple codify Roe vote (aka don’t attempt to ban Catholic hospitals from refusing to perform abortions or kill the Hyde Amendment) since that will get at least 52 votes (all 50 Democrats + Susan Collins + Lisa Murkowski) but that will likely fail due to the filibuster.
Put a 20-week federal abortion ban with rape/incest/life-of-mother exceptions on the floor (aka what Republicans put forth in 2018 and Democrats filibustered)
If and when that fails, try 15-weeks, and then 6-weeks. I of course think 6-weeks is insane because most women don’t even realize they’re pregnant within 6 weeks but currently, there are several states which declare life to begin at fertilization so I’ll take what I can get.
Then, try a bill that keeps abortion legal in cases of rape, incest, life of mother. Obviously, it’s almost impossible to prove rape within a 6-week timespan and life-of-mother is such a slippery slope because if doctors are scared of being arrested, and they’re probably not going to decide the life of the mother is in danger until well, she’s already dead
Some Miscellaneous Points:
By August or thereabouts, the stories about 16-year-old debutantes in Houston killing themselves by trying to induce abortions in their childhood bedrooms will start trickling in, and the more I think about how we can't prevent it, the more I want to start screaming and never stop. This is life or death, and I’m not sure how to drill that point into people’s heads.
Relatedly, I’m really not positive how “safe, legal, rare” became “We want to ban abortion, but not as much as the Republicans” or “you get a little banning (as a treat)” to Democratic partisans, especially male ones. We simply don’t have the luxury of not triangulating on messaging anymore, or being the party of abortion on demand because Roe has been overturned and there’s literally no federal protection for abortion anymore, it’s all on the state level. Plenty of religious people, especially religious women, are personally opposed to abortion but are still pro-choice. Without their support, we don’t have anywhere near a majority that supports keeping abortion legal. Like it or not, the Joe Manchin view of “abortion icky but keep it legal” is pretty close to the median voter nationwide, and we need to make the electorate see how deadly and devastating Roe being overturned will be for American women.
Call me cynical but I don't think abortion rights in this country are going to be protected by reliable Democratic voters who support racial justice, they're going to be protected by somewhat racist white women who don't want their bodily autonomy annihilated. There are millions of American women who didn't want abortion to be illegal but didn't worry about it with Roe intact so voted Republican. Now, millions of white, mostly secular women in Wisconsin, Ohio, Iowa, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, which were all won by Obama in 2012, are going "shit." Ohio already has a 6-week abortion ban in place, and Iowa's governor, Kim Reynolds is seeking one and will likely get it within the month. The only thing keeping Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania from turning into Ohio or Iowa is their Democratic governors. NARAL and Planned Parenthood and similar Dem-aligned orgs refuse to admit this but without the Barstool types who want to fuck without consequences and without these women, the pro-choice coalition is getting nowhere and that's the simple reality.
I think a real issue is that left-aligned media outlets and Democratic voters are just immune to blaming Republican voters who voted for Republican senators who confirmed Republican president appointed Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade. The states with insanely regressive abortion bans and trigger laws are generally run by Republican governors, and have very Republican state legislatures while Democratically-run states aren't in dire straits, and this isn't a coincidence.
When the House GOP offices had watch parties for Dobbs and popped champagne when the decision dropped while every single pro-choice woman I know, including the ones who’d never get an abortion themselves, cried when they found out, it’s clear the lines have been drawn and there’s no stepping over.
Coda:
Here’s me looking back at the Supreme Court, and with my friend (and no I’m not apologizing for using coat hanger imagery)