Overturning Roe v. Wade Is Not About Protecting Children, It Is About Forcing an Unpopular, Ultra-Right-Wing Agenda on the Country

 --P.S. White

Leading up to the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the general push from the conservative side was that this was needed to protect the rights of unborn babies.  For those who can see through the rhetoric and blatant lies, though, it has been clear for some time that concern for the children has never been the true issue at stake.  This has always been about pushing an ultra-right-wing agenda, and the immediate aftermath from that ruling offers all the proof needed.

It there really was wide concern among the conservatives for the well-being of the mothers and their unborn children, then the states that passed the restrictive abortion laws would have immediately put plans in place to assure that the childbirth would be as safe as possible and that financial assistance would be in place if needed.  And while a few Republicans have given lip-service to such programs, no substantial legislation is currently in place to assist the mothers or the children.  And the fact is that the Republican Party has historically shown much resistance to supporting social programs of this nature.

Instead of expressing any sort of empathy or support for the mothers who are being forced to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term or the children that could be born into a dire situation, this ruling seemed to embolden the right-wing, and they immediately started to champion next steps for forcing their agenda on the country.

Justice Clarence Thomas in his ruling targeted two cases that could be the next to fall: Lawrence v. Texas and Obergefell v. Hodges and Griswold v. Connecticut.  The former protects the right to same-sex intimacy and marriage and furthers the anti-gay movement among the right-wing driven by extreme homophobia and a very narrow reading of the Bible.  The latter protects the right to obtain contraceptives, and to overturn that would be unconscionable by the same people trying to make abortion illegal throughout the country.  This is again driven by a narrow reading of the Bible and an attempt to enforce puritanical, religious views on a secular county.

Texas Senator John Corwyn then suggested on Twitter that the Supreme Court go after Plessy vs Ferguson and Brown vs Board of Education, the cases that struck down the Segration policy of "Separate but Equal" and allowed for the integration of schools.  Indiana Senator Mike Braun suggested that protections for interracial marriage are in question. And Illinois Representative Mary Miller called the Roe v. Wade ruling a "historic victory for white life".  Apparently the Republicans are wearing their racisim on their sleeves now as they advocate for a return to a time when women and minorities had less rights than white males. 

And to highlight just how inhumane, inflexable, and uncaring the right-wing is on their anti-abortion stance, a ten-year-old victim of rape was forced to cross state lines from Ohio to Indiana to get an abortion.  Republican Governor Kristi Noem of South Dakota--which also has restrictive abortion laws--suggested that the TEN-YEAR-OLD GIRL should have carried the pregnancy to term.

If the conservatives who are opposed to abortion really cared about the mother and the child, they would have followed a different path once the unpopular ruling was made by the Supreme Court.  But instead, they championed to push their far-right-wing agenda even further, clearly displaying the bigotry and repressive religious beliefs that drive them.  The people of this country must stand against this extremism and continue to demand that our leaders protect our freedoms and our democracy against the very real threat posed by the ultra-right-wing.  A toxic, destructive agenda that is unpopular and counter to our democratic ideals should not be tolerated in this country and we must be diligent in our efforts to oppose it.