This is for all the young women who have regarded those of us who have fought for their right to control your own bodies and blithely ignored the threat to their right to their own bodily integrity:
Happy now?
This is for all the so-called pro-choice Democratic Senators who were too frightened of George W. Bush to put up a fight against the likes of John Roberts and Samuel Alito:
Happy now?
This is for all the physicians who refused to get involved in this issue for the last 20 years and allowed the Supreme Court, not you, to decide what is and is not appropriate medical procedure:
Happy now?
I feed badly for those women whom the Supreme Court today told today that their life isn't worth shit. But let this be a lesson to all of us: There is a price to letting our guard down. There is a price for taking our rights for granted. There is a price to saying "Oh, they'll never [fill in the blank]...." Today women whose lives are threatened by pregnancies that can never result in healthy babies were told that even the few hours of life that their damaged babies may have are worth more than their own lives. Indeed, ALL women of childbearing age were told today that their lives have no value when weighed against a terminally ill or damaged fetus.
Conservatives have wanted this for years, and craven Democrats allowed them to have it. I'm past menopause now and this is no longer my issue. But the implications of allowing the Supreme Court to decide what is appropriate medical care for women extend far beyond abortion -- and we had damn well better get a grip on what we're dealing with. Because this is not about Teh Babies. It's about Teh Control.
Labels: reproductive rights, self-determination.