Editorial: The Loss of Roe v. Wade
Demonstrators march up the steps of the Utah State Capitol in protest of the potential overturn of Roe v. Wade in Salt Lake City on May 5, 2022. (Photo by Xiangyao “Axe” Tang | The Daily Utah Chronicle)
June 24, 2022
Today the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The landmark case once federally protected abortion rights and the right to privacy. In a month, 13 states are posed to ban abortion. Several more will likely implement further bans. Unless Congress acts now, states will determine an individual’s right to an abortion. These actions foretell a future with an increasingly tyrannical Supreme Court, who will not stop at forcing millions of women to bear children they can’t provide for.
Women who can’t afford or travel to states with safe abortions will turn to desperate, life-threatening methods. Mothers seeking abortions to care for their current children will struggle to provide for the families they chose to create. For queer and trans women whose rights are constantly questioned — their grim reality will only become darker. Disabled, sick and BIPOC women who become pregnant will die because of inadequate healthcare. As of 2020 in the U.S., Black infants already die at twice the rate of white infants. Restricting abortion access irrefutably targets minority and marginalized communities.
Shifting responsibility to individual states only expounds this phenomenon. According to Utah Women’s Health Review (UWHR), spatial disparities in abortion care have grown as more “abortion-restricting legislation has been enacted at the state level.” Economic affluency also acts as a main indicator of whether or not populations will maintain access or proximity to abortion care. Many wealthy areas will remain unscathed while places with the highest poverty rates will suffer the largest impacts. At the same time, abortion restrictions are associated with “adverse maternal and infant health outcomes.”
So, let’s acknowledge this decision for what it really is. Not rooted in moral or scientific foundation, but racially, oligarchically and religiously motivated. For instance, four of the five Supreme Court judges who voted to overturn Roe v Wade identify as Catholic. Texas, a Christian nationalist state, lists “[creation] in the image of God” as reason to disapprove of abortion in their 2020 GOP platform. Despite the Establishment clause of the First Amendment requiring the separation of church and state, our government respects no such thing. In the same week that they gutted abortion access, the court ruled to allow state-funded religious schools. Religious organizations have historically meddled in state affairs to secure abortion restrictions that would harm women’s suffrage, among other things. And as Justice Clarence Thomas has made abundantly clear, women’s reproductive health isn’t the only thing in danger.
The loss of Roe threatens same-sex and interracial marriage, as well as rights to contraceptives. Millions will suffer financially as pregnant women get pushed out of the workforce due to unpaid maternity leave, no affordable childcare or equal pay. Women won’t be able to choose between pursuing an education and taking care of a child as their agency is ripped away from them. And for men who think the overturning of Roe doesn’t pertain to them – think again. Whoever you impregnate may be forced to give birth to a child you can’t support.
Last time we checked, the Constitution doesn’t allow for a non-elected government entity to decide what we as individuals do with our bodies. Yet we continue to allow a group of nine people, who know nothing of our unique situations, to mold modern society based on the interpretation of an outdated document. We have no choice in who they are or how long they serve. They obsess over abiding by every single line and sentiment written in the Constitution only to fail their actual constituents.
Who cares what the Founding Fathers intended when they wrote the Constitution? The world Thomas Jefferson lived in is incredibly different from the one we live in now. We should make decisions that reflect our progress rather than our past. We are leading ourselves into oblivion by following a document not meant for women or Black people, and certainly not meant for 2022. Imagine what a truly liberated country could do for its people. When are we going to live for ourselves instead of the Founding Fathers?
We’re creating a world where our lives mean less than the ones we carry, where women alive today have lived to experience both the protection and demolition of their reproductive rights in backward order. Our accomplishments and value can be cast aside for the sake of a fetus. An unborn child will have more rights than we do, unless (God forbid) it’s born a girl.
The leaders who proudly advocate for abortion rights keep telling us to fight and to vote. But at this point, what can we do? When has this so-called democracy worked in our favor? We’ve already taken to the streets and voted. We’ve already relied on a political party to protect our rights. Look where we are now. You aren’t fighting for us. You aren’t even representing us. Not anymore.
The end of Roe will result in chaos. There’s no digestible way to put it. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: What the fuck are we doing?
The Daily Utah Chronicle Editorial Board is a group of senior opinion journalists who rely on research and debate to write staff editorials. Editorials represent the majority view of the editorial board and are written separately from the newsroom.
John Hedberg • Sep 4, 2022 at 9:52 am
Dear Su. M,
You said, “Never trust a Republican. They are turning our nation into a neo-fascist state”.
(Partial Re-Tweet)
It’s always about targeting groups you can paint with your false blame-hate, isn’t it? Pure projection of your worst feelings, which you refuse to take responsibility for. The sad thing is that you apparently don’t even know you’re repeating Marxist propaganda that’s killed millions over the last century. Because you don’t read.
Among other mis-statements, your anti-Christian assertions are empty AND inverted. Abolitionist religious organizations started women’s suffrage, not just in this country, but worldwide. My grandmother used to tell me family stories about our Abolitionist roots, ending slavery and standing up for the rights of everyone dis-enfranchised, including and especially women. They wrote & passed the Bill of Rights! Targeting religion as bigoted, when you’re the one spreading bigoted hate speech about religions and history you clearly know nothing about, makes you the oppressor, since these people are the ones who fought for the rights you so obviously took for granted.
Do what they did. They (these religious people) passed amendments to the Constitution (13th, 14th, 15th, 19th, etc.) which enshrined equal rights for ever-expanding groups of people, trying to fulfill the original promise of the Declaration of Independence by improving the Constitution in order to form a more perfect Union. If you refuse to respect what their spilled blood and sweat accomplished, that doesn’t make them the a**holes, that makes you!
And then there’s your smear against Republicans, without evidence, without due process, just hate because you feel hateful, so why not use hate speech against millions of innocent people? When has fascism like that ever led to a bad end in the past (start with Kristallnacht, if you “feel” like looking it up)?
Poll Utahns and find out what number of weeks Utahns most support to keep abortion open, legal, and safe. If most Utahns agree to 16 weeks, craft a bill with the Law School for 16 weeks, and you will have a majority. That’s democracy.
What’s interesting is that you may end up being your own biggest critic if you ever have an abortion of your own. My girlfriend and I weren’t Christian, we grew up Blue-state kids in eastern Massachusetts, so we thought abortion was about as impactful as going to the dentist. It was only afterward that our own innate parental feelings, whether they come from evolution or from some heavenly source, led us both to a totally unexpected feeling of devastation and loss, which endures, and no one could have been more surprised than we were, since no one was judging us but our own inner hearts. So, if 91% of reluctant pregnant women decide to keep their babies rather than adopt them out, that could suggest that 91% of would-be parents have regrets similar to what my girlfriend and I experienced. (The whole world turned dark, and it was Springtime outside).
If you care about poor disadvantaged folks and the burdens pregnancy brings, know that a lot of women (all colors) who get abortions would rather keep their babies, but Leftists are too busy giving tax exemptions to electric car companies to care about the fact that these people are facing a choice between having the children they want, and having the meals they need. How compassionate of you to help them get rid of children which many of them want, rather than exercising compassion helping them feed, clothe, and house their beloved familias while you feel good about driving around in your electric car that needs electricity from fossil fuels to run anyway, so you get to virtue signal about green energy while the families you say you have compassion for continue to struggle, so you can feel morally superior for absolutely no reason at all while quoting empty Marxist buzzwords. Please, tell us about your outrage again…
Is driving a car in the Constitution? Can you still drive a car? Gosh! The loss of legitimacy is evidently yours, loss of any pretense that you ever believed in anyone else’s diversity, inclusion, opinion, or right to equality. You have no compassion for disadvantaged folks of any color, or you’d have more compassion for the families who want to keep their children intact, instead of sacrificing them to Margie Sanger’s Baby Auschwitz, conveniently located in a “neighborhood of color” near you because she believed the best way to deal with people she felt were inferior was to convince those mothers to choose extinction: it’s much more “economically viable” to vacuum out your child’s brain and dismember their bodies to sell as “parts” on the international biomed market than it is to “torture” those mothers by burdening them with the love of their own children.
Listen to yourself.
Anyway, I voted for this guy who Democrats call a “white supremacist” (he’s black). He gave some interesting comments on abortion at a House hearing recently.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAQt7Gu5aKw
**Worth watching to the end.
Despite the racist Dem pander attacking him, Burgess Owens has turned out to be extremely hardworking for the communities he represents.
Stop lying to people. Do the work that democracy requires, just like every generation, and be glad!
Best Wishes from a classical Liberal,
J Hedberg
John Hedberg • Jun 25, 2022 at 11:11 am
“Religious organizations have historically meddled in state affairs to secure abortion restrictions that would harm women’s suffrage, among other things.”
It’s always about targeting groups you can paint with your false blame-hate in this paper, isn’t it?
Among other mis-statements, this is ridiculous. Abolitionist religious organizations started women’s suffrage, not just in this country, but worldwide. My grandmother used to tell me family stories about our Abolitionist roots, ending slavery and standing up for the rights of everyone dis-enfranchised, including and especially women. Targeting religion as bigoted, when you’re the one spreading bigoted hate speech about religions and history you clearly know nothing about, makes you the oppressor, since these people are the ones who fought for the rights you so obviously took for granted.
Do what they did. They (these religious people) passed amendments to the Constitution (13th, 14th, 15th, 19th, etc.) which enshrined equal rights forever-expanding groups of people, trying to fulfill the original promise of the Declaration of Independence by improving the Constitution in order to form a more perfect Union. If you refuse to respect what their spilled blood and sweat accomplished, that doesn’t make them the a**holes, that makes you!
Poll Utahns and find out what number of weeks Utahns most support to keep abortion open, legal, and safe. If most Utahns agree to 16 weeks, craft a bill with the Law School for 16 weeks, and you will have a majority. That’s democracy.
The sad side is that not every law you like will pass in your state. The bright side is that there are 50 states, so people who are tired of being told that their bodies are required to take useless and risky COVID vaccines, or be fired, can move to Florida, and those who are tired of being told their bodies are required to carry unwanted children can move to several dozen states that have expanded abortion laws. That’s true of gun laws, that’s true of taxes, it’s all about democracy and how a particular state votes for the laws its people want. That choice is always yours, to vote at the ballot, or to vote with your feet, another great American tradition.
If you care about poor disadvantaged folks and the burdens pregnancy brings, know that a lot of women (all colors) who get abortions would rather keep their babies, but you’re too busy giving tax exemptions to electric car companies to care about the fact that these people are facing a choice between having the children they want, and having the meals they need. How compassionate of you to help them get rid of children which many of them want, rather than exercising compassion helping them feed, clothe, and house their beloved familias while you feel good about driving around in your electric car that needs electricity from fossil fuels to run anyway, so you get to virtue signal about green energy while the families you say you have compassion for continue to struggle, so you can feel morally superior for absolutely no reason at all while quoting empty Marxist buzzwords. Please, tell us about your outrage again…
Anyway, I voted for this guy who Democrats call a “white supremacist” (he’s black). He gave some interesting comments on abortion at a House hearing recently.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAQt7Gu5aKw
Worth watching to the end.
Despite the racist Dem pander attacking him, Burgess Owens has turned out to be extremely hardworking for the communities he represents.
Stop lying to people. Do the work that democracy requires, just like every generation, and be glad (since no one is really tuned into your endless empty complaining at this point, anyway).
Best Wishes from a classical Liberal,
J Hedberg
P Sherman • Jun 27, 2022 at 4:50 pm
It is truly outstanding how I see this J Herberg comment on every post with the classic ignoring and misrepresenting statements every time without fail. (The Uvalde article comment was especially heinous) The whole argument of “move somewhere else if you don’t like it” falls flat on its face when you actually take the time to look at how bad issues like housing and income is. Not everyone has access to move to an entirely different state or even travel to access medical facilities that should be available in every state.
“ If you refuse to respect what their spilled blood and sweat accomplished, that doesn’t make them the a**holes, that makes you!” -> This entire statement can be applied to the very reason Roe V. Wade was established in the first place and the ignorant and selfish people who fight against it. Women were dying because of having no access to abortion and had to fight for that right which has been taken away FIFTY years later by Christian nationalists.
Also too busy giving out tax exemptions? Again this entire point can be directly attributed to churches who actively get involved in politics and promote their own self interests. Especially in Utah where the LDS has massive amounts of stocks and business practices and as an organization do not pay anything and are actively influencing politics for their own agendas.
The loss of Roe V. Wade is a huge loss for not only women but for society as a whole. While disemboweling the legitimacy of the Supreme Court as they cannot be trusted to be objective with law and instead act on personal and religious self interest which has no place in law. And the continued ignorance and vitriol from people who refuse to understand continues to split this nation as a whole. And this is not an issue that stops with this judicial decision.
Best Wishes from a regular person,
P Sherman
John Hedberg • Jun 28, 2022 at 12:24 pm
P Sherman,
You’re just another intolerant bigot who talks about a democracy you neither understand nor believe in, who would rather falsely stereotype and defame whole innocent groups of neighbors with made-up Marxist hate-labels like “christian nationalist” than change your own diapers and pass a law, like a real grown-up.
Is driving a car in the Constitution? Can you still drive a car? Gosh! The loss of legitimacy is evidently yours, loss of any pretense that you ever believed in anyone else’s diversity, inclusion, opinion, or right to equality. You have no compassion for disadvantaged folks of any color, or you’d have more compassion for the families who want to keep their children intact, instead of sacrificing them to Margie Sanger’s Baby Auschwitz, conveniently located in a “neighborhood of color” near you because she believed the best way to deal with people she felt were inferior was to convince those mothers to choose extinction: it’s much more “economically viable” to vacuum out your child’s brain and dismember their bodies to sell as “parts” on the international biomed market than it is to “torture” those mothers by burdening them with the love of their own children.
Listen to yourself.
Since Utah allowed teachers to voluntarily carry their legal weapons, how many school shootings have there been in Utah? Meanwhile, in places where legal gun ownership is restricted (Baltimore, DC, Chicago, NYC, etc.), how many children and adults are killed every single week by illegal weapons, because people who care about law are unable to defend each other? Mass shootings happen in restricted areas every day, killings which could be prevented if government let parents pick up a lawful gun and protect the children they refuse to protect, just like in Uvalde. Argue the logic. We’ve had open carry in most places for 200+ years, but it’s in areas where open carry is most restricted that children and adults are dying. I hat to ask you to use your IQ, but “Why is that, do you think?”.
You think like a petulant child. I’m glad you’re regular, but if all you’re doing is sh**ting on other people with your regularity, I’m not sure it’s really something to be proud of. Open a book, maybe? Respect someone who’s different than you, for a change? Take responsibility for your own worst feelings, rather than painting everyone else with your own worst inner evils? There’s so much you could do, if you want to improve “judicial” behavior in this country.
Best Wishes, from someone who needs more fiber, 😀
J Hedberg