Since Tuesday night, gossip has been damn near monopolized with news of Bush’s Supreme Court nominee, John G. Roberts. Well_no_shit. All throughout the blogosphere and the major television media outlets, Roberts’ history and political philosophy has been dissected and even questioned as to whether it would spell the end of Roe and women’s reproductive rights altogether. I’d say no more than forty-five minutes after Bush’s announcement on Tuesday, my email inbox was bombarded with ‘take action’ emails from NARAL Pro-Choice America, the National Organization for Women, and Planned Parenthood. I answered all of them and signed all the petitions.
And naturally when I received all of those alert emails, they included directions and times for all the emergency pro-choice rallies, but just about all of them took place in cities such as San Francisco, Washington DC, and New York City. Come on people, you know I live in Indianapolis–I had to include that info when I registered. Must you be so cruel to me?
You can’t go to any political blog without seeing this story and then not read any commentary on the fate of Roe v. Wade. Certainly not at Pandagon where Amanda has done an excellent job in keeping us privy to the latest in Roberts’ past anti-Roe legal activity, the anti-choice ideologues who endorse him, (scroll down a bit to see the links) and denouncing this “let Roe go back to the States” nonsense. And there has been talk of his past anti-union legal activity as well. No doubt you’ve heard that the Democrats and Moderates aren’t all that worried about Roberts and are hesitant to say or even believe that this could lead to a showdown on Capitol Hill. The Senate Judiciary Committee will ‘likely begin confirmation hearings on Roberts after Labor Day’ according to the previous CNN link. And we all know the Republicans are walking on sunshine because at long last, they have been given the prospect of finally having someone who could truly tip the balance the other way when it comes to decisions concerning abortion-rights.
But what will happen during those confirmation hearings? Will the committee go easy on him, be mildly critical about his history, or will they grill him? Will the Democrats listen to those of us who look to them to ensure and protect our civil rights and liberties and take a closer look at his record–especially concerning his anti-Roe legal history? Could this lead to a Congressional stalemate, with the Democrats threatening to filibuster and bring business on the Hill to a halt, and then the Republicans countering with the Nuclear Option? Could they just at least give us a good drama? And could the Democrats, for once, not cop-out on the issue of women’s reproductive rights, prove themselves to us as Amanda says here, and remember Roe’s importance to the millions of women who vote for them? Oh the suspense is killing me…..especially waiting to find out what will happen to Roe. Kudos again to Amanda for her fine work on this story.
Prediction: the Dems will fold like a cheap suit. Hillary Clinton will be the one stiffarming the braver Democratic senators into submission.
Yeah, that probably will happen. I could bet on it.
I know this is an obvious point, but it bears repeating: The fate of Roe does not hang in the balance here. Unless Justice Kennedy changes his mind, they’ll need to replace O’Connor and another pro-Roe vote to be able to truly tip the balance on Roe and Casey.
On the other hand, the “Partial Birth” abortion ban is probably going to be Constitutional now.
The “PBA” ban is vague enough. If it passes, isn’t that more or less the same as Roe being overturned ? Doctors will be so terrified of being dragged into court for “murder,” “unjustified termination” or whatever, that they’ll simply refuse to perform any abortion past the first trimester.
Of course, abortion was already inaccessable for millions. Maybe now an underground will spring up that in all fairness, should have started being built at least a decade ago.
The only thing I look forward to once the inevitable Democratic cave-in is over is the possible mass-desertion of feminists from the party that may end up being part of the fall-out. The leaders carry on as if they can get by without a crucial part of their base, egged on by shitheels like Kos to regard us as a dispensable “special interest” that at the same time is not “the important stuff.” Why not prove to them that they’re wrong ?
The PBA ban is vague but first trimester abortions probably won’t be directly affected by it – and that’s 90% or so. It will have some indirect effects — an increase in the proportion of non-surgical abortions, because giving a pill will be a safer bet for docs who are worried about the vagueness of the law. It will also have a “chilling” effect on med students and contribute to the decline in providers, etc. But I don’t think it’s fair to say it’s the same as Roe being overturned.
Thanks for the help. Mostly I just want the Dems to take a stand for women. The Repubs have been quietly blowing smoke up pro-choice women’s asses for a long time on this, and a knock-down, drag-out fight over an anti-choice candidate will make it very, very hard for those pro-choice Republican women to keep lying to themselves about how they can trust Bush on this issue.
Amanda wrote:
What will you do to them if they don’t ? You don’t want Republican women to trust Bush, but why would you continue to trust the Democrats if they cave again ?
I’m just really hoping the Dem’s don’t cave.
Of course the same people that whinged over the Dems rocking the boat on Bolton and fillibustering “we’re ultimately going to loose, so why make the Repubs angry at us” and then both turning out to be partial (however much) victories for the Dems, are the SAME ones now arguing that honestly “things could be far far worse than Roberts and we’re not going to win anyway, so why try? Should just save ourselves for the next fight” as though our ability to fight is a zero-sum game.
My question is, when the fuck is it going to be the next fight? When is the obivous challenge to women’s rights, to ethnic minority rights, to gay rights, to environmental legislation, going to be apparent enough and ‘valid enough’ for them to actually grow some gonads and step up to the plate.
People aren’t voting Dem because the Dem’s aren’t ‘centre’ enough, they aren’t voting Dem because the Dem’s aren’t standing for anything.
Of course, like everyone here, I’m expecting them to cave, after an obviously-for-show token resistance is put up (although, I’m hoping the few Dem’s actually that have those gonads will make it a touch more than being token, but I’m not holding out much hope).
I can’t even vote in this country, and even I am almost done with the Dem’s as a party that will represent my interests in any way but lip-service just around election time, and becoming hardly even that.
Truth be told, rallies, though satisfying, are not the most effective thing we can do. I know it helps to be around other people, and the yelling, and the signs, and it’s great, but nonetheless.
From the NARAL Pro-Choice America website:
Become a Rapid Responder. They’re being mailed out… soon, so soon. You’ll get flyers, and fact sheets, things you can pass out, actions you can take, a bumper sticker, and so on.
As Adrienne mentioned, sign the petition. Forward the petition to everyone you know, and even some you don’t.
Check out the Supreme Court Action Kit that’s up now. There are actions you can take right now, and they change… I don’t know how often, but they change. Today you can contact your Senators. Sample letters to the editor are going up later today, and there are links to newspapers and call-in radio shows in every state.
Sarah wrote:
This will happen when they and their own peers and families have to deal with the pain of foreclosure/eviction-borne homelessness, deaths in the proverbial “back alley”, miscarriages or asthma caused by local toxic dumps, cop-beatings due to racial profiling, and financial hardship caused by lack of legal protections that are de facto in marriage.
IOW, the answer is “never.” >:
alsis hon
Yeah, that’s what I am figuring too
Wankers.
*sigh* I need a beer
Truth be told, rallies, though satisfying, are not the most effective thing we can do.
Mass protests can overthrow governments. They can frighten supreme court justices into supporting abortion rights — which is how Roe v. Wade happened to begin with.
[passes Sarah a beer]
But Brian, mass protests are so RUDE !! Unless they’re thinly-disguised sales pitches for some warmongering DLC-hack, with Madeline “I Starve Foreign Children” Allbright as guest speaker, of course. :p
Sure, *mass* protests are fantastic. But a sparsely attended rally is not. If anything, they’re fodder for the other side. Unless you can generate a really good crowd of people, and some media coverage, you’re much better off contacting your elected officials directly, writing letters, petitioning, doing a table event, flyering, writing letters to the editor, calling in to radio shows, doing visability, hosting house parties, doing a cell phone or on-the-street phone bank… and so on.
Also, mass protests rarely pop up out of thin air – they’re work, and they’re not cheap. The March for Women’s Lives? Incredibly expensive, and while it was being planned, other work around women’s reproductive rights was put on the back burner. Please don’t misunderstand, I would do it again in a heartbeat. It was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. I just think there are other protest activities that can be just as effective as a rally, politically.
I would have like the March For Women’s Lives a lot more if it had amounted to more in the end than free advertising for the hateful, useless back-stabbing John Kerry. I consider groups like NOW largely useless shills for the Democratic Party. I certainly haven’t forgotten how they vilified my candidate in the last two elections, and condoned the Democrats’ nasty maneuvers to keep him off the ballot. In the name of “choice,” they wanted my choice of who to vote for grabbed away. So charming, that. They can kiss my ass.
I rarely write my elected officials or contact them in other ways because of the reasons listed above. I am convinced that they are too insulated from the reality of my life to give two shits and a fuck what I think. I would mostly prefer to concentrate on building something concrete to challenge their hegemony on the political process, rather than to shore up their hegemony.
But do as you like, b. You will anyway. My feeling is that you are locked into constantly throwing good money and good will after bad.
The Democrats will cave. They already pretty much said that any objection of Roberts is mostly for show. Maybe they won’t have nearly as much affection for Roberts, as they did for Scalia, but he’ll probably get quite a few of their votes.
News flash: Women only matter to Democrats around election time, if even that. Of course, our votes belong to them, b/c of the lip service they give to women’s issues. We just are supposed to vote for them…because you know.
As alsis has said, millions of people are already denied access to abortions, and where has the outcry been about that? FTMP, the war against abortion accessibility is no longer being fought in the courts, let alone the USSC. There’s other more soft battlegrounds to rage that fight.
Hopefully, NOW and other organizations will stop looking at the Democrat Party as their lord and savior, though I don’t see that happening in my lifetime.
Massive protests are rude, and civil disobedience of course, is just soooo uncouth and downright unladylike to organizations like NOW that those two words can only be mentioned in whispers.