You can see it coming as the leaked memo brings the Roe v. Wade horizon right to our doorsteps.
Civil disobedience will come roaring back. A new Underground Railroad will be constructed. It will be enormous. It will have tentacles throughout the flyover states.
Let the organizing begin. And hurry the hell up.
An incredibly naive, surreptitiously lying (about Roe being "settled law"), frighteningly authoritarian, exceedingly religiously afflicted Supreme Court has managed to begin beating women on the head ahead of accepting any particular case lying around that would give it the chance to wipe out the woman's right to choose, even as edited and compromised as Roe has become in the last 25 years.
It would even, said the memo, take away the right to abortion from women who have been victims of rape and incest. So a 12-year-old girl, raped by her father, has no choice but to bear the fetus. It deputizes crazy men to act crazy. Even encourages them.
That not only defies logic, it defies humanity. It's barbaric. How can you tacitly approve of an act of violence by guaranteeing an unwanted result that no one wants to take care of?
If that doesn't increase the buying of guns and/or pepper spray for self-protection in this country, I'm not sure what would.
Watch what else happens. States that will quickly legislate to echo the ruling, those that have no respect for women's bodies whatsoever, will also try to keep women from going to other states that do to have their abortions. Then let's see how the 'originalist' Supreme Court deals with Article IV, which says that each state must respect the laws and rulings of other states.
Will this increase the taxes in those states for enforcement? How, in fact, will enforcement be done? Word of mouth? Checking uteruses every few months? Looking at doctors' and hospitals' records, which is another outrageous violation of privacy?
In the meantime, there will be a considerable number of people interested in preserving women's rights, and not all of them will be women. There are devices that are easily built and bought that can deliver abortions in pregnancies' early stages. Yes, it will be risky. Yes, finding those who can operate them in secret, risking an increasing severity of punishment, will increase the cost. And yes, women who can't afford it will either die trying, or leave live fetuses in garbage cans. The number of each will increase.
I can't imagine an act that would delegitimize the Supreme Court more than this one. Civil disobedience will rise precipitously. It will rival the Dred Scott case in 1857, when an equally sharply definitive Supreme Court said that slaves couldn't be citizens and had no rights.
The Court has unleashed a cascade of lawlessness. The effects will be far beyond abortion itself. States most greatly affected will have to act like a police state to see to it that such an absolutist ruling is followed. Such draconian enforcement will spill onto other matters. So will resistance.
Wait and see how this spills, too, onto TV ads in gubernatorial races. We will be forced to view this sickening ruling with bullying promises on how it would be carried out.
In Wisconsin, one thing is clear: Tony Evers' re-election will be the only thing standing between women's rights to choose and The Handmaid's Tale. Expect the rhetoric from Republicans to reach dizzying heights of monstrosity. The hysteria will be exquisite.
Be on the lookout for ways to contribute to the resistance of this ridiculous ruling. A vast expanse of organizing looms ahead. Civil disobedience looks to be making a comeback. There will be plenty of grateful women.
Be well. Be careful. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.
Mister Mark
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