Your War in My Womb, My Middle Finger in Your Face

Capitol Hill is all abuzz about my uterus. Bush recently described the fight against my right to choose what do with my body as a “noble cause.” In the Supreme Court, a woman who believed in my self-determination is being replaced by a man who does not. That’s right, the anti-abortion-fascists are still around, and they are gaining momentum. So pass the Midol, plug in the heating pad, and light up the medicinal marijuana; the battle over my uterus (and yours) rages on, and you know that’s bound to cause some serious cramping.

Roe v. Wade, the epic Supreme Court decision that established the constitutional right to an abortion, just had its 33rd birthday. But as pro-choice activists tried to celebrate the occasion, opponents of the ruling emerged in full force to crash the party, throwing their own anti-choice shin-digs everywhere from San Francisco to South Dakota. While Bush bolstered these pro-lifers by stating publicly that the anti-abortion crusade “appeals to the conscience of our citizens” and is “rooted in America’s deepest principles,” the Roe party-train was further derailed by the Senate’s confirmation of Judge Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. These birthday bummers have caused many pro-choice activists to wonder if legal abortion in the United States will live to see another year.

Senate Democrats, proving once again to be totally useless, made a weak attempt to filibuster Alito’s confirmation but were unable to get enough support to extend the debate. Alito was subsequently confirmed by a 58-42 vote and became the second justice appointed to the Supreme Court by George W. Bush. He will be replacing Sandra Day O’Connor, a political centrist and outspoken supporter of the Roe v. Wade ruling. So what exactly is Sam’s position regarding abortion?

Well sisters, it doesn’t look good. In 1985, as a lawyer in the Reagan Justice Department, Alito wrote a memo outlining his master plan concerning abortion. Instead of directly overturning Roe, he advocated gradually weakening it by supporting state-level restrictions on abortion access, with the ultimate goal of a future in which the Supreme Court would uphold extreme restrictions on abortion. Also in this memo: Alito compares a woman’s decision to have an abortion with a judge’s decision to impose the death penalty.

And in 1992, as a judge in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, Alito voted to uphold part of a Pennsylvania law that would require married women to notify their husbands before having an abortion. Apparently, it did not occur to Alito that women in psychologically or physically abusive marriages might not want to ask their husbands for permission to end a pregnancy. The Supreme Court eventually deemed this law unconstitutional because, as Justice O’Connor’s explained, “women do not lose their constitutionally protected liberty when they marry.” Perhaps somebody should send Alito that memo.

Alito’s anti-abortion sentiments resurfaced in the Senate confirmation hearings when he failed to indicate any change from this past record of hostility toward women’s reproductive rights. In fact, when questioned by a Democratic Senator, Alito refused to concede that Roe was indeed the “settled law of the land.”

It is unclear if the addition of Alito (along with Bush’s first appointee, John Roberts) will be enough to sway the court against abortion rights. Justice Anthony Kennedy, appointed by Reagan and also getting up there in age, would be another key vote. Kennedy has ruled in favor of abortion in the past, but is also a strong advocate of states rights and may be compelled to overturn Roe and relegate the issue to the state level.

This uncertainty may be cleared up soon enough. The recent Supreme Court shake-up has encouraged conservative lawmakers in six states (South Dakota, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, and Ohio) to propose legislation that would ban abortions totally. This would make it a felony “to perform an abortion or to provide abortion-inducing drugs,” except when the mother’s physical health is at risk. A law such as this, enacted at the state level, would directly challenge Roe and provide the increasingly conservative Supreme Court with an opportunity to reverse the ruling.

If Roe v. Wade was ever overturned it would be a catastrophic blow to reproductive rights specifically and privacy rights in general. The battle over our bodies would continue, but at a state level. And, if the proposed legislation in these six states is any indication, many states would choose to either ban abortion altogether or severely limit its availability. And make no mistake, it is already extremely difficult to get an abortion in many parts of the country for many women.

Even with Roe intact, 87 percent of U.S. counties have no abortion provider. Pro-life politicians have been attacking this issue from every angle for years, stockpiling state-level restrictions concerning a wide variety of reproductive issues. The legality of spousal notification, parental notification, refusal clauses for doctors, counseling bans and gag rules, so-called partial-birth abortions, and of course the very definition of human life is constantly hanging in the balance. Not to mention the many, many additional restrictions that are already in place for women who use federal health programs (e.g. Medicaid recipients, federal employees, military personnel and their dependents, and women in federal prisons.) This is an example of something that we have seen time and time again throughout history and in various realms of public policy: when restricting access it is the most disadvantaged groups who suffer first and most. Abortion always has been and always will be an issue of class and race.

Indiana State Representative Troy Woodruff, republican author of a law to criminalize abortion in his homestate, recently told the press: “on an issue that’s this personal, it should be decided as local as possible. We either want these procedures, or we don’t…and I don’t.”

Yes Troy, it is a personal issue that should be decided locally. And I can think of no better locality than my own fucking body.