American Horror Story

Some people really are willing to take a chance and push women to their limits.

And six of those people are on the Supreme Court of the United States.

Overturning Roe v. Wade is most likely the start of a new age for SCOTUS, an era of party politicking. Justice Clarence Thomas has since said he now wants to “revisit” other previous civil liberties rulings, a phrase so ominous it sounds like it should come from Emperor Palpatine (you know, the wrinkly male autocrat in black robes … wait).

His implication is that he wants the court to explore potentially revoking other constitutional rights — something that, until now, had never happened. This ruling has set that frightening precedent.

Evangelicals and other far-rightists claim this is preserving life, but that’s not true. In reality, this is a death sentence. While they insist this is advocacy, it’s just politics — that’s why justices Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh mislead Congress and the public by saying in their recent confirmation hearings that Roe v. Wade was “settled law” and didn’t need changing. If the three would have told the truth — that their whole reason for being was to overturn Roe, to start with — they never would have been confirmed, relying as they were on “moderate” congressional votes. Now, thanks to Coney Barrett, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh, and the entirely gullible U.S. Congress for confirming them, many women will die.

This was the plan all along. And now Thomas says he’s interested in “revisiting” other rulings. If protecting women’s reproductive health services didn’t matter to you, consider the implications of this conservative SCOTUS “revisiting” Griswold v. Connecticut (already on Thomas’ hit list), the case that permits married couples to buy and use contraceptives.

Who would be most impacted if SCOTUS overturned Griswold v. Connecticut? Women, minorities, and the LGBTQ+ community.

Who is most impacted by overturning Roe v. Wade? Women, minorities, and the LGBTQ+ community.

The vast majority of Americans support Roe v. Wade to some degree, based on research from numerous studies. Most Republicans support some exceptions to abortion bans, such as in cases of rape, incest, and risks to the mother’s life, but extreme evangelicals don’t care about this. They don’t care about democracy. They believe they are above such mortal constraints as earthly justice and law. They believe they wield God’s sword in some unholy war against their fellow men (well, in this case, women).

Republicans who support protections for rape victims and pregnant people at risk of death must make their voices heard. They must demand such protections at the national and state levels, because overturning Roe got rid of any insurance we had in those circumstances. This is not the time for appeasement. This is not the time for party cohesion at the public’s expense. Women will die as a result of trigger laws across the country (including Texas). Desperate women seeking abortions will obtain them however they can, even if it means risking their lives, and anyone who claims to support life should prove it by caring about women’s lives as well as those of fetuses.

Even though politicians claim to care about protecting life, they don’t care about ours.

Women’s bodies now have less autonomy under law than dead bodies. Individuals must consent for their organs to be extracted for medical or scientific use after death, but the same people who claimed “my body, my choice” for comparatively unimportant shit (like whether they could be denied service in stores for not wearing masks) get to pick what medical procedures pregnant people can have?

Side note: The term “pregnant people” is important, for not only women can become pregnant. Hormone replacement therapy and gender-affirming care are expensive and hard for many Texans to access, making abortion a necessary resource for trans men as well.

If you consider yourself a reasonable person regarding abortion, prove it. Talk to your senators and representatives. Tell them you’re a Republican and you’re outraged. Tell them you care about women as much as fetuses.

Be better than the politicians you claim not to idolize. Be the change you say you want to see in politics.

Do. Something. Because even when we’re on our death beds, they won’t listen to us.

Written by a woman, this column reflects the opinions of the editorial board and not the Fort Worth Weekly. To submit a column, please email Editor Anthony Mariani at Anthony@FWWeekly.com. Submissions will be edited for factuality, clarity, and concision.