Supremes set to strike down Roe vs Wade

The plan to overturn abortion rights in Europe

When news broke that the U.S. Supreme Court had overturned decades of precedent and opened the door to abortion bans across the country, the reaction from opponents of the procedure in Europe was simple: We can do it too.

With support for legal abortion in Europe polling at the highest in the world, its opponents know they are rowing against the tide. But activists on the Continent got a practical demonstration of how a determined minority can make the impossible happen last weekend, when the U.S. Supreme Court confirmed a POLITICO scoop that it was repealing the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling. The decision made, or will soon make, abortion illegal across 16 states.

For opponents of abortion in Europe, the ruling confirmed their belief that public opinion and — perhaps more importantly — public policy can be changed.

“This is very positive, and it will be looked at by other judges,” said Grégor Puppinck, director of the European Center for Law and Justice and one of the biggest names in anti-abortion activism in Europe, a few hours after the Supreme Court decision was announced.

“I think it is obvious that 50 years after Roe v. Wade, abortion is still a problem, and it will always be a problem,” he added. “Normalization is not possible.” 

Puppinck, a Quebec native who studied law in France, heads the legal foundation out of Strasbourg, where he is carrying out a strategy inspired by the American anti-abortion movement — with funding and support from backers in the United States.

By issuing legal opinions and representing clients in court cases, the ECLJ pushes for conservative interpretations of the law on topics like religious freedom, assisted suicide and, of course, abortion, in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and other international organizations.

Over the years, Puppinck has made a name for himself. He's served as an adviser to the Vatican, and was awarded honors by the Italian government for his legal services in a lawsuit over the right to hang crucifixes in public schools.

This May, he gave a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Budapest, where he inveighed against socialism, postmodernism and French President Emmanuel Macron. The annual U.S. version of the conference is a top political meetup for the American Republican Party. In the Hungarian edition, not-coincidentally held in the capital of Viktor Orbán's hard-right government, Puppinck was joined by heavyweights from the American right, including Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

American ties

Organizations like Puppinck’s are part of an American effort to export anti-abortion activism across the Atlantic.

Over the past half-century, U.S. anti-abortion activists have chipped away at the precedent set by the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1973 Roe v. Wade case, even when it looked set in stone, arguing that the verdict was based on faulty legal reasoning.

It was in the U.S. that largely evangelical activists blazed a trail and turned opposition to abortion into a basic conservative position, making the religious right a decisive voting block for Republican candidates. They also targeted law schools. In 1982, activists set up the Federalist Society to promote conservative interpretations of the American Constitution.

Now, through a combination of electoral success, determination to expand their influence in the judiciary, and sheer luck with the timing of a number of key U.S. Supreme Court appointments coinciding with Donald Trump’s presidency, they had their biggest win in a half-century.  

Opposition to abortion isn’t anything new in Europe either. The Catholic Church's condemnation of abortion dates back hundreds of years, and it's only hardened over time. Orthodox and conservative Protestant groups take similar stances. 

But with activists on the Continent so far unable to replicate the success of their American counterparts, U.S. groups are trying to put their thumb on the scale, sharing tactics and funding with allies in Europe.....

One thing history has shown is that nothing is permanent and to assume that these staunch conservative movements are not making inroads is tantamount to turning a blink eye to potential threats. We have already seen socialist policies throughout Europe be watered down by a push towards if not outright pressure to adopt neo-liberal policies. It certainly worked in Canada.

Speaking of Canada, during the Harper years many of my friends and fellow feminist activists were constantly on pins and needles with every stupid but often too effective for our liking backbencher bills designed to chip away at our right for unconditional abortion proceedures as part of the umbrella of medical services availbale to women. If anything, their contant chipping away and our attempts to discredit their bullshit, left us too exhausted to deal with the failures in access throughout the country.

Biden Abandons Plans to Nominate Anti-Abortion GOP Lawyer to Federal Bench

President Biden has dropped plans to nominate an anti-abortion Republican lawyer named Chad Meredith as a federal judge in Kentucky as part of a deal with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. The White House says the plan fell apart due to opposition from Kentucky’s other Republican senator, Rand Paul.

Because of Clarence Thomas judicial comments in wiping out Roe I wrote the following satirical poem on the hypocrisy of the Supreme Court with the title coming from my biracial son.

Come On Clarence 

Come on Clarence

Abortion now we must not darence

In the abortion case of Dobbs

Women’s rights he robs

You know

Roe just had to go

Anita Hill almost cost Thomas a Supreme Court seat

For acting like a dog in heat

His precedent was the 17th century Mathew Hale

Who today is way beyond the Pale

For ruling wives cannot be raped and women can be burned as witches

Boy now Thomas is going to get even with those lesbian activist bitches

In aiming to overturn Lawrence and perhaps in revenge against Hill

He now threatens to end the pill

By overturning Obergefell he promises to place a great hex

On marriage to people of the same sex

And repealing Lawrence would mean sex outside of marriage would have to go

Especially for gays it would be the ultimate no-no.

This fall through the basis

Of taking up state cases

Clarence now has a case of note

That allows states to block people’s presiding vote

And lets states’ legislatures get the deciding vote

 

Clarence, at 74, can you still get an erection?

 Maybe that’s why you’re against contraception

Your wife Ginni is of full proportion

And at 65 hardly needs an abortion

We pray and say

That you’re not gay

But why stop there 

It isn’t fair 

Inter-racial marriage let’s repeal

We should do that with great zeal

 So Loving vs Virginia and with interracial marriage must go

Just say it’s so

But you’ve got a wife that’s white

What gives you that right?

 

Abortion rights affect us all 

quote:

Enforcing choice enforces the class system

Allowing this decision to be left in the hands of politicians and lawmakers is the fast track to further marginalize specific aspects of healthcare. Many pregnant people and their partners come to this decision because it is what is the best for themselves and their situations. Often, the largest deciding factor when exercising the right to choose is socioeconomic reasons. In fact, 30 per cent of women in Canada will have an abortion in their lives. 

Making this choice for people drives the agenda for the haves and the have nots. Canadians who do not have access to a safe abortion can find themselves beginning or continuing generations of economic hardship, living at the poverty level, dealing with issues of substance abuse, intergenerational trauma, absent parenting, continued degradation and marginalization. 

A five-year study conducted by researchers at the University of California, in San Francisco, confirmed that those who were denied access to abortion would experience socioeconomic adversity. Aptly named, The Turnaway Study was based on interviews and longitudinal observations of thousands of women who were denied the right to an abortion. The Turnaway Study found that a person who was denied an abortion was four times more likely to be from a household below the poverty level and three times greater odds of being unemployed. Not to mention, basic necessities often go unmet and women were more likely to stay in situations with violent partners putting themselves and their children at risk. 

quote:

Pro-choice is for us all

The right to choose is not a fight left only for women or transgender people who can get pregnant. Their partners need to stand up and share their stories too. 

How many men have likely felt they dodged a proverbial bullet by a woman they chose to have sex with and then discussed the option of an abortion? And by having access to this basic right, she may have also given that man another chance at his own life path, where it did not force a circumstance of child support and/or shared custody. 

Once we allow politicians and lawmakers to make these decisions for anyone with a uterus, we open a Pandora’s Box of whoever else they choose to marginalize and oppress. It was not that long ago when gay marriage was debated and it’s likely the overturning of Roe vs. Wade will open the doors to restrict these rights as well..... 

Liberals Vowed to End Charity Status for "Dishonest" Anti-Abortion Groups.

They Haven't

https://thetyee.ca/News/2022/08/02/Liberals-On-Anti-Aborition-Groups/

No Means Yes to Abortion: Kansas Votes on Confusing GOP-Backed Constitutional Amdt. to Ban Abortion

quote:

AMY LITTLEFIELD:

I’m here in Wichita, Kansas, not far from the clinic of the assassinated abortion provider Dr. George Tiller, where I spent the day yesterday. And I wanted to come to Wichita to report on this amendment, because it’s a city with such a deep and rich history, and complicated and violent history, when it comes to abortion rights in this country.

So, what’s happening here in Kansas today, Amy, is that the Republican-controlled state Legislature is trying to repeal the right to an abortion that’s enshrined in state Constitution. The state Supreme Court in 2019 said there is a right to abortion under the state Constitution. And that’s allowed clinics here to remain open.

And, you know, just to give you a sense of the stakes in terms of where Kansas is on the map, if you look at that map, Amy, I mean, it is a wall of deep red to the east and to the south of Kansas. And so, patients from Oklahoma, from Texas, from Louisiana, from Arkansas, from Missouri are all flocking to this state, that has actually quite a few abortion restrictions in place already here. It’s not by any means a haven state. Abortion is actually quite heavily restricted here. But it is a pivotal state where patients are flocking from across the region.

And so, what Republicans here are trying to do is strip away this right from the Constitution strategically using tactics of voter suppression. And that started with when they scheduled the vote. So, they scheduled it for the August 2nd primary, when turnout is about half of what it typically is in a general election. They scheduled it during a primary, knowing that about 30% of voters in Kansas are unaffiliated with a political party, so they’re not used to voting in primaries. They may not realize that you can still go to the polls and vote on a ballot amendment like this one — a ballot referendum like this one, even if you’re not registered with a political party. Kansas has a requirement that people have to register three weeks before the election. So, one of the clinic workers was saying to me yesterday that her son, who’s 18, has a “vote no” bumper sticker on his car. He’s so excited to vote in favor of abortion rights, which is “no” — the “no” position is for abortion rights. And he’s so excited to vote, and then he realizes he just had registered the night before. Well, he’s weeks too late to register to actually vote in this election under Kansas law.

The language of the amendment is incredibly confusing. I mean, it starts out by stating what the state Constitution already says, and then it gives the people, through their elected state representatives, the ability to pass laws regarding abortion, including ones that have exceptions for rape or incest. Well, reading that, you know, you might have to really puzzle through whether that sounds like a good thing or a bad thing — right? — and whether the pro-choice vote is “yes” or “no.” If you want to keep the status quo, is it “yes” or “no”?

And then, to top things off, yesterday a text message from a toll-free number went out to thousands of Kansans. I was sitting — standing in the clinic when the staff there started getting notifications that even people that they knew were getting these text messages. And these text messages said voting “yes” will give women a choice. Well, it’s the total opposite of that, in fact. Voting “no” is the pro-choice position here. Voting “yes” would allow state lawmakers in Kansas to pass even the most extreme anti-abortion laws here. And so, this was a very clearly deceptive text from an anonymous number. And I tried to trace it, I tried to call it, I tried to message it, and I just got a dial tone. So — and it’s a violation, most likely, of FCC rules, according to the ACLU.

So, this is just to sort of give you a sense of this is not an up-or-down clear yes-or-no vote on abortion, because abortion rights proponents here understand that abortion is a popular issue. A majority, more than 60%, of Kansans do not want to ban abortion in all circumstances. And so, it’s just a question of whether those people get to the polls, can vote, and understand what they’re voting for. We know that when measures to ban abortion or enshrine personhood for fetuses have been on the ballot, and it’s a direct question of the most extreme abortion ban or not, those measures have been voted down in even the most conservative states, like South Dakota and Mississippi. But what’s left clear —

quote:

AMY LITTLEFIELD: 

You know, it was a prayer vigil, so they had spread out all along the sidewalk in front of a large Christian church here in Wichita, holding “vote yes” signs. And it was interesting, Juan. If I had to guess, you know, standing there on the sidewalk, watching the cars go by, which side this was going to go, just based on people’s reactions to these signs — you know, some of them were honking in support and seemed excited about the “vote yes” position, and then some were yelling profanity out their window or booing.

So, what’s really clear is that this amendment is deeply present here, right? You can’t go a block without seeing a lawn sign on one way or the other. The second I crossed the state line into Kansas, I saw a Rosie the Riveter sign that said “Trust women. Vote no on 2.” It’s absolutely everywhere.

And I think what’s really encouraging is that there has been an enormous grassroots mobilization, that might just tip the odds that are stacked against the abortion rights position here, that might just be enough. I mean, I think it’s going to be very close. But I think abortion rights supporters here are cautiously optimistic that the huge upswelling of outrage and political participation from people who have never been involved in that kind of activism before will be enough to tip the balance in their favor, even though Republicans have really tried hard to stack the deck against abortion rights in this vote.....

It's always so uplifting to hear news like that posted in #267. Amazing grassroots organizing made that historic outcome possible.

This company should make sure this can never happen again. Quebec should pass a law to insure that.

I thought that wearing religion on your sleeves was against the law in Quebec. If I got this straight a pharmacist cannot wear a hijab because patients may be intimidated by the display of religion but a Christian male can shame a young woman because of his religious beliefs.   What hypocrites Canadians are when it comes to human rights.

After the repeal of Roe

In an outrageous act of judicial activism that disregarded both judicial precedent and popular opinion, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and ended the constitutional protection of abortion as a national right. Their decision has unleashed the Republican Party in so-called Red States to enact trigger laws and pass new legislation that will likely criminalize abortion in half the country.

Already, the far right is planning to launch a campaign to impose a national ban. These attacks will have a devastating impact on women, trans people, people of color, and the entire working class.

In response to this full frontal assault on reproductive freedom, the Democratic Party has offered little to nothing but another plea to vote for them in the midterm elections. Many who may vote for the party know it cannot be trusted. Despite numerous opportunities in various administrations including Biden’s, it has refused to pass legislation to codify Roe as the law of the land, and it has even restricted abortion rights.

quote:

A terrible defeat and more to come

We must not sugar coat the enormity of the defeat we have suffered. As Jia Tolentino argues, the overturning of Roe will not “take us back” to a time before abortion was legal, but into a new era “of widespread state surveillance and criminalization—of pregnant women, certainly, but also of doctors and pharmacists and clinic staffers and volunteers and friends and family members, of anyone who comes into meaningful contact with a pregnancy that does not end in healthy birth.”

Such state intrusions into the lives of women and people who can become pregnant will not remain isolated to so-called Red States. Republican extremists are determined to impose their agenda nationally, policing the travel of pregnant people trying to secure abortions where it remains legal, challenging the use of mail to deliver abortion pills, and even bringing national legislation to ban abortion throughout the country.

The result of all of this will be disastrous for the working class as a whole, and especially for Black and Brown people. By one estimate, the repeal of Roe will lead to a 33 percent increase in pregnancy-related death among Black women.

The court’s overturning of Roe was just the beginning of its attack on bodily autonomy as part of a whole slew of reactionary rulings. In his separate opinion, Clarence Thomas challenged the constitutionality of decisions on same sex marriage, trans rights, and even contraception. Such extremism tanked the Court’s approval rating to a historic low of 25 percent and inspired protesters to chant, “Fuck You, SCOTUS!”

The rampant right and the pathetic democrats

Organized political forces have reacted to the ruling in all too predictable ways. The far-right zealots in and outside the Republican Party are jubilant and moving ahead to impose new state bans with hopes of a national ban.

Republican leaders from Ron DeSantis to Mitch McConnell are overjoyed with their victory but aware of how unpopular it is. So, they are determined to focus on issues they see as giving them an advantage over the Democrats in the midterms—the deteriorating economy as well as manufactured moral panics over crime, Critical Race Theory, Trans people’s so-called “threat” to women’s rights, and “chaos” at the border. For his part, Donald Trump, remains monomaniacally obsessed with his defeat in the 2020 election.

The Democrats proved themselves useless in the midst of the new crisis. In a pathetic stunt, Democratic House Representative staged a sing-along of “God Bless America” on the Capitol steps as the Supreme Court issued its ruling.

Nancy Pelosi followed that up with a press conference where she quoted a passage from Zionist Ehud Manor’s poem, “I Have No Other Country,” which Israeli settlers use as an anthem for their colonial seizure of Palestinian land. It reads: “My country has changed her face; I shall not give up on her. I shall remind her and sing into her ears until she opens her eyes.”

Meanwhile, Pelosi openly campaigned for abortion opponent Henry Cuellar in Texas, helping him secure victory over progressive pro-abortion candidate Jessica Cisneros. Even worse, her party poured nearly $44 million into supporting Trump-backed candidates (all of them anti-abortion extremists) in the GOP primaries in the hopes that Democrats could beat them in the general election.

This is a dangerous if not suicidal example of the lesser evil backing the greater evil in primaries to scare voters into voting for the lesser evil in the general election. So much for voting for Democrats to stop the far right!....

the country dividing into red America versus blue America

..i don't see it that way. i see more disgust directed toward both parties. more of a 99% opposed to the 1% kind of thing. people see their money going to war, gas & oil resulting in climate disaster. people link these things to both parties. this includes the abortion issue. 

..like you i see it as intensifying. the abortion struggle for example is certainly doing just that. and within that struggle things are changing. 

..there is no good legislation to be had. 

..as you know my position is that the parties can't be reformed. what is left is organizing and struggle..at the local level. what comes from that no one can say. that is for future folks to decide. since you think it can be reformed you tell me when and how this will happen. 

..the notion that people will continue to put themselves on the line for political parties that continually betray them is an argument for insanity. or self abuse. it is an argument for the status quo. 

..so i don't believe that is what is going on. i doubt any progressives that want real change supports the dems like you say jkr. people voting for the lesser evil or become active to stop a greater evil does not relate to support for the dems. it is something else going on. and that where hope lies.

..that's right i don't. class struggle isn't a party thing. i'll vote ndp but that doesn't mean i support the ndp. and everything that comes with that thinking.

..i think most people understand that mainstream parties don't represent their interests. that parties are representing the interests of the ruling class. elections aren't a measure for understanding class struggle. 

..that's not what i'm saying. activists at the grassroots level may very well use the infrastructure and resources the party provides as a vehicle for some control over their lives at that level. this does not reflect approval from the top other than the top's ability to use/manipulate a local struggle. and also that this does not translate into the ability to take control of the party where the party power lives.  

..same could be said at the municipal level be it the labour party or the ndp. that support at this level is not party loyalty. but part of a broader class struggle rather than a party thing.  

..so criticism of the democratic party must go on. and is entirely relevant in this thread. 

epaulo13 wrote:

..that's not what i'm saying. activists at the grassroots level may very well use the infrastructure and resources the party provides as a vehicle for some control over their lives at that level. this does not reflect approval from the top other than the top's ability to use/manipulate a local struggle. and also that this does not translate into the ability to take control of the party where the party power lives.  

..same could be said at the municipal level be it the labour party or the ndp. that support at this level is not party loyalty. but part of a broader class struggle rather than a party thing.  

..so criticism of the democratic party must go on. and is entirely relevant in this thread. 

I agree with both of your points. That when warranted it makes sense to work with and within the Democratic Party and when warranted it makes sense to criticize the Democratic Party. I think criticizing the Democratic Party doesn't preclude working with them or supporting them too. Criticizing the Democratic Party when warranted supports the Democratic Party improve.

I think you might be right but I'm not sure so I'm hedging my bets by emphasizing both.

US citizens should vote out the politicians that are supporting this bullshit.

A Louisiana mother has a week to make an unthinkable decision — carry her baby to term even though she says doctors tell her it will not survive or find another state where she can have an abortion, WAFB reports.

Said the woman: “It was an abnormal ultrasound, and they noticed the top of the baby’s head was missing and the skull was missing, the top of the skull was missing.”

She added: “It’s hard knowing that… you know I’m carrying it to bury it.”

Louisiana Board Withholds New Orleans Flood Aid over City Council’s Defense of Abortion

Louisiana’s State Bond Commission is withholding nearly $40 million in funding for flood control in New Orleans after the state’s Republican attorney general objected to city officials’ opposition to Louisiana’s strict abortion ban. The funding is meant to pay for drainage pumps critical to protecting New Orleans from flooding and rising sea levels due to the climate crisis. Attorney General Jeff Landry successfully pushed commissioners to withhold the funds as punishment, after the New Orleans City Council passed a resolution asking law enforcement officers not to enforce Louisiana’s near-total abortion ban — which does not include exemptions for rape or incest. This comes after a Baton Rouge resident who was 10 weeks pregnant was denied an abortion at a Louisiana hospital even though an ultrasound showed her fetus was developing without a skull. The condition, known as “acrania,” does not appear on a list of accepted conditions for an abortion in Louisiana.

That pattern of behavior by a government is called corruption. Corrupt politicians passing laws to legalize this relationship with big money does not change the fact it is still corruption.