Preparing For Post-Roe America: Roe v. Wade Will Fall. We Must Be Ready For It

 

By Robin Marty, Farah Diaz-Tello & Loretta J. Ross
In These Times (8/27/18)

WITH PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of conservative Brett Kavanaugh to replace Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court, the remaining abortion protections put in place by the Roe v. Wade decision are under dire threat. We asked three reproductive justice experts—journalist and activist Robin Marty, attorney Farah Diaz-Tello and SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective co-founder Loretta J. Ross—to explain this new political reality and how we should respond.

The three short essays making up the article include:

BACK TO THE UNDERGROUND — Within a few years, abortion will likely be illegal in close to half of U.S. states—if we’re lucky. Should Republicans continue their control of the House, Senate and White House, within a decade or two they could easily move to pass a total abortion ban, extending the right to life guaranteed in the 14th Amendment down to the moment of conception—and have the Supreme Court votes to uphold it. …

A NEW WAY TO CRIMINALIZE POVERTY — The question of the moment is: What happens if Roe falls? The policy wonk’s answer is to point to the looming abortion bans in 22 states, some designed to take effect upon Roe’s demise, others that were rejected by the courts but could spring back to life with a mere court order. The glib right-wing answer is to say that abortion policy will “return to the states” and that people who want abortion access should pull themselves up by their electoral bootstraps to install pro-choice legislatures. Neither answer, each of which focuses on access to clinics, gets to the real endgame of abortion foes: to make abortion a crime. …

GET READY FOR ANTI-ABORTION TERRORISM — What alarms me most about the threat to Roe is the potential for an uptick in anti-abortion terrorism. The increasing scarcity of abortion providers will create a vulnerable target range for those committed to ending abortion access through violence. The hostile rhetoric of President Trump—and the reluctance of federal authorities to treat anti-abortion and white supremacist violence as domestic terrorism—signals to vigilantes that they have little to fear from federal prosecution. Since 9/11, billions of dollars have been spent on sniffing out “Islamist” terrorism, while for decades multiple presidential administrations—both Republican and Democrat—have largely neglected the white supremacist and anti-abortion movements, allowing them to proliferate and strengthen. These two movements have long been connected. …

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