Will Supreme Court conservatives overturn Roe? Their casual contempt for women is not a good sign

[marmar]

Will Supreme Court conservatives overturn Roe? Their casual contempt for women is not a good sign
The GOP justices compared women's rights to white supremacy and spoke of adoption like it's donating used clothes

By AMANDA MARCOTTE
PUBLISHED DECEMBER 1, 2021 3:00PM


(Salon) Despite all the legalese about "stare decisis" and "reliance interests," the abortion rights hearing held at the Supreme Court Wednesday morning came down to one question: Can women's rights simply be disappeared, with the ease of shaking an Etch-A-Sketch?

Unfortunately, 6 out of 9 members of the Court seemed to strongly believe that yes, it's time to hit the reset button on that whole "treating women like full human beings" experiment after nearly 50 years, since Roe vs. Wade, of women having full human rights.Through the two hours of questioning in Dobbs vs. Jackson Women's Health, one word came to mind to describe the stance of the conservative judges: Contempt.

Wednesday's oral arguments were full of contempt for women's lives, contempt for women's intelligence, contempt for women's privacy and contempt for women's very humanity. To be sure, Center for Reproductive Rights lawyer Julie Rikelman and Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar repeatedly emphasized that women are complex human beings who have as much a right to liberty and the pursuit of happiness as anyone. But it was like talking to a brick wall of misogyny offered by the Republican appointees on the bench. The Court now seems almost certain, as was requested by Mississippi Attorney General Scott Stewart, to overturn Roe v. Wade next year.

Perhaps the most repulsive moment of the morning came courtesy of Justice Sam Alito, who is always ready to act like the biggest mansplaining creep in the highly competitive field of GOP-appointed judges. In response to Prelogar's argument that American women have come to rely on abortion rights, Alito sneeringly argued that the South had also come to rely on "white supremacy" after Plessy v. Ferguson, but that didn't stop the court from overturning it in Brown v. the Board of Education. Yes, you read that correctly: Alito compared a woman's right to control her own body to upholding Jim Crow. ...........(more)

https://www.salon.com/2021/12/01/will-conservatives-overturn-roe-their-casual-contempt-for-women-is-not-a-good-sign/

[NanceGreggs]

1. No, they won't.

Not because it would be morally reprehensible to do so, but because the political backlash will land squarely on the backs of the party who put six of them in their current positions.

[bucolic_frolic]

2. Correct, yes, yes, yes. The blow back would be epic, and they have no idea it's coming

Were Justices signalling their intent, or showing the Fundies that they asked the right questions, only to retreat to stare decisis in the end? Take your pick, but any path to there is obscure at this point.

And think of the blow to their fundraising! If you think politicians know how to stay in office, think of their paymasters.

[LiberalLoner]

3. Yes, they will. It's clear as day to me. And outlaw contraceptives, take away women's rights

To vote or own property or work for pay….anything you can imagine that harms women, they will do. And we will be powerless to fight back.

I wish so much I could move away from this country right now.

[NanceGreggs]

4. And all of those pissed-off women ...

... will be voting for which party in 2022 and 2024?

Women are NOT powerless to fight back - which is how women won the right to vote in the first place.

[Texin]

5. Not if these privileged motherfuckers take away their right to vote and work.

Women who care about this had better get off their asses and vote (though I'd say they have probably missed their chance if they voted for anyone in GQP party previously) because SCOTUS has demonstrable proved their callous indifference to a woman's personal autonomy and any woman who thinks they wouldn't go so far as to strip them from education, and of their right to professional careers or to vote, needs to wake up and see where this is headed. Make no mistake, these asshole men (and woman) on the SCOTUS are wanting nothing less than turning the clocks back to the early nineteenth century and before and shoving women onto the porch with a broomstick in their hands.

[Claire Oh Nette]

8. Even republican women have abortions

Middle class women, who have gone on to have lovely families and careers.

No pregnancy is guaranteed. One in four, one in five fertilizations ends in miscarriage. Women still have stillbirths, and sometimes, the baby dies after delivery. All of this is highly fucking personal, and again, no one else's business. For those religious folks who object: don't have one. If you do, it's between you and your god, isn't it?

Democratic fundraising will skyrocket if Roe is overturned.

[PatrickforB]

17. Yeah it will, but I already get 40 or more emails a week from Democrats asking for

money.

And I hear that. I do.

But FIRST, we all have to vote like it matters and not be jerks and stay home this coming November.

Because I've got to say that I remain in awe of the sheer ignorance and apathy of the American people. I really do.

[Claire Oh Nette]

18. math hurts...

50% of the people are at the 50th percentile....

[PatrickforB]

16. I think they will. Yeah, the blowback will be terrible, but they are operating on

ideology, not common sense of any kind.

[DownriverDem]

6. Yes they will

Remember we were all warned that the 2016 election was not just about trump v HRC. It was also about the Federal judges and the Supreme Court.

[olegramps]

7. It appears that it is likely.

This is in reality a religious base issue that has been generated by the evangelic sects. That the Republicans embraced the evangelical sects is one of the major problems we are confronted with along with their courting White Supremacists and an assortment of prejudiced
groups. A major problem is the lack of Democrats voting local and state elections that has allowed the Republicans to dominate state governments. This is where Republicans excelled by attending church meeting and gaining their support. These groups are virtually single minded and if anyone of them doesn't go along they are quickly ostracized. They are led by preachers who have no qualms ignoring the separation church and state. I have attended four of these churches and witnessed how dominate the leader is and how they can control the congregation. They actually demonize the Democrats as immoral people who are the enemy of true Christians as well as being unpatriotic threats.

[Texin]

9. It had its inception within religious-based groups. BUT it's now become an issue

for right wing Christofascists and incels and the cult of toxic males who feel as if they've been marginalized for about 30 or 40 years. This right wing obsession has had more to do with turning the clock back when white males (preferably with money) could impose their will over women and minorities to do anything with them they damned well wanted, when women had no rights except be used, diminished and discarded at the whim and pleasure of their lords and masters.

[kiri]

11. important for women to be virgins, men not to be

People forget that it was Anthony Comstock who first made abortion a "moral" issue and crime in the late 1900s.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Comstock
He opposed obscene literature, abortion, contraception, gambling, prostitution, and patent medicine.

"The terms "comstockery" and "comstockism" refer to his extensive campaign to censor materials that he considered obscene, namely anything even remotely discussing sex publicly, including birth control advertised or sent by mail. He used his positions in the Postal Service and the NYSSV (in association with the New York police) to make numerous arrests for obscenity and gambling. "

The Evangelical/Catholic anti-abortion cult has nothing to do with the welfare of women, babies, or fetuses. Or the well-being of society. It is about women/girls having sex. They oppose it. Especially if they are not married. (Altho they are equally opposed to masturbation... go figure.)

In the 1980s and 90s I used to pass by protesters in front of Planned Parenthood every day on my walk to work. The most prominent theme was, "You played, now you pay." Pregnancy was a punishment for having sex. Men especially loved this theme, noticed by their screaming. About 'whores'.

The word 'incel' hadn't been invented yet, but clearly loser men were jealous over men who had sex partners (so long as they were not gay!). Christian religiosity motivated the women. Some had real crushes on their priests or preachers and waved pictures of them. Safe, because they couldn't have sex? Well the clergy scandals disproved that!

The anti-evolutionists played a role in this. They were hugely disturbed that human embryos/fetuses had tails and pharyngeal slits. And humans are mammals. Primates, even.
https://askinglot.com/what-is-a-pharyngeal-gill-slits

Evolution was anti-Bible, and so was abortion, sex, birth control, et al. Comstock.
[What? you don't see the connection? You are probably not Pentecostal or Anabaptist; maybe not even Christian.]

[ancianita]

15. Sotomayor--"How is your view anything but a religious view?"

[FBaggins]

10. Depends on your understanding of the question

I think that they're most likely to say that women do have a fundamental right, but that government has an interest and the right isn't absolute. That leaves Roe technically in place but gives states the power to implement restrictions at least up to the Mississippi line.

In common discussion... this could be seen as "overturning Roe" even though it technically wouldn't be.

[Marthe48]

12. I think 6 so-called judges made up their minds before this case got to them

I heard and read so many logical, persuasive arguements and commentary on MSNBC and in these forums. I wondered last night who might be convinced? As a female, I want women to keep the rights we fought for. As a person, I am going to be really surprised if the overlords on the USSC don't take away abortion rights.

If they do, how will we keep the rights open? Fund travel for women who need help? Make sure their family and jobs are covered? Would the abortion rights organizations expand their financial assistance to be sure that all women have a chance to exercise this right if they need to?

Will we do more to get out the vote? Will we do more to support and elect representatives who will obey the will of the people instead of the people who own them? Will we fix gerrymandering? Will we get rid of the gd filibuster, so we can limit or reverse the obvious damage the rightwing megalomaniacs?

[DownriverDem]

13. Yes they will

and remember we were all warned about this in 2016.

[ancianita]

14. It's not looking good. If they do they'll be known as a kangaroo court. So maybe not.

If they do, we'll have to keep both Houses in 2022, then start the long needed judicial reform that gives Americans the more perfect rule of law structure that strengthens the people's constitutional protections.

[olegramps]

19. Has anyone considered that its repeal could play into the Republican's master plan.

It could result in the destruction of the authority of the Supreme Court which is the only bullwork that protects citizen against unconstitutional laws. It is exactly what the masters of the Republican Party really want.

The resulting demonstrations will further divide the nation and provide to further progress for the transition of the presidency to an authoritarian presidency. This is what the wealthy have been working at for the last forty years. They what transform the government into a fascist structure in which they hold all the power. They believe that the heads of major industries should be in complete charge and would be far more efficient. They view democracy as an impediment to their control which would be more effective than the present system. It will just be a replay of what took place in 1930's in Germany and Italy and really is the basic structure of both the Russian and Chinese governments. They maintain a congress and elections that are just really a farce in that they just rubberstamp anything that the presidency and his wealthy cabinet dictate.

It is in fact a rebirth of the aristocracy and what some of the nation's founders feared. It is why several, such as Jefferson believed that inherited would result in aristocracy of the wealthy and believed that wealth should be redistributed through taxation of estates. The fact of the matter is that the wealthy won. One of the most effective means for massive concentration of wealth and the proper sharing of profits are worker unions in addition to inheritance taxes. This is why the wealthy concentrated on their repel.