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Monday, October 31, 2005

Of course you know, this means war
Posted by Jill | 6:58 AM

I can't say I'm surprised, but it looks like C-Plus Caligula's bubble has him thinking he still has a mandate to turn this country into a patriarchal theocracy.

He's so terrified of the Christofascist Zombie Brigade, afraid they'll tarnish his so-called "legacy", that he's named one of the worst possible judges to replace Harriet Miers as his nominee for the Supreme Court.

His choice is Samuel Alito, known affectionately on the right as "Scalito", for his affinity with Fat Tony Scalia, another theocrat.

Alito is probably American women's worst nightmare. He not only doesn't believe that a woman with an unplanned pregnancy has a right to control over her own body, he believes that once married, her husband, no matter if he's abusive, absent, or whatever, has a right to complete control over her.

Alito is best known for his dissent in the 1992 Planned Parenthood vs. Casey decision, in which the 3rd Circuit Court overturned Pennsylvania's 1989 Abortion Control Act. This law required the following:


(1) a woman seeking an abortion must give her informed consent prior to the procedure and be given state-provided information concerning her decision 24 hours before the abortion is performed
2) a minor seeking an abortion is required to obtain the informed consent of one parent or guardian, but has an option of judicial bypass
(3) a married woman is required to sign a statement indicating that she notified her husband of her intended abortion
(4) exemptions can be made in the event of a medical emergency
(5) facilities providing abortion services are required to keep records of the events


There are arguments to be made about whether a minor child should be required to notify/obtain permission from parents before obtaining an abortion, though my own feeling is that the state cannot legislate family relationships, and that even girls with loving, healthy families can feel enough trepidation about telling their parents to make notification unviable. After all, if a child is injured in an automobile accident, emergency room doctors need not track down the parents before treating the child.

But in the case of spousal notification, an adult woman is just that -- an adult woman. And the idea of a woman having to notify a husband before seeking an abortion reduces her to the status of a child. It implies a notion of male spousal ownership of his wife that NO ONE outside the most hard-core members of the Christofascist Zombie Brigade thinks should be codified in law.

In most marriages, the decision to abort is a joint one. And if it isn't, such as in the case in which a wife doesn't want the child and the husband does, the fact remains that NO ONE should be able to compel a woman to carry a child she does not want for nine months. To do so reduces that woman to the stateus of mere vessel, stripping away her own humanity. This is NEVER acceptable (except in rare and extreme cases such as that of Susan Torres, the brain-dead woman kept physically "alive" until her fetus became viable, a case in which the child had been wanted by both parents at the time she became pregnant).

I don't think anyone seriously believes that Roe is going to survive the Bush Administration, and I think the time to wail and rend garments about that particular decision was last November, not now. However, the kind of judges Bush is appointing are not only opposed to Roe, but opposed to any kind of self-determination for women whatsoever. These are frightened, small men, just like those who burnt witches centuries ago, who are so terrified of women that they have to control them at all costs. And obviously the primal place to control is the womb.

But Alito's status as an insulting and objectionable nominee isn't JUST about abortion. It seems also that ethically questionable behavior is also a Bush Administration qualification for high-level positions. WaPo reports that:

Three years ago Alito drew conflict-of-interest accusations after he upheld a lower court's dismissal of a lawsuit against the Vanguard Group. Alito had hundreds of thousands of dollars invested with the mutual fund company at the time. He denied doing anything improper but recused himself from further involvement in the case.


Funny how he didn't recuse himself until AFTER he was found out.
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