The Supreme Court ruling reversing Roe and Casey has deepened our cultural wounds. Its reasoning rests on the premise that the Constitution did not mention abortion as a protected right and, therefore, it doesn’t exist. They have always ignored the Ninth Amendment that states, “the enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.” In other words, this amendment explicitly allows liberties held by the people to expand beyond what has been written since James Madison and the others who wrote this document understood that they could not include all circumstances in which liberties could be challenged.
Politically, the abortion issue focuses our attention on the separation of church and state. We should not allow religious beliefs regarding behavior to be embedded into our laws. This is not an argument against a belief in God. This is an argument against theocracy, where the beliefs of some regarding procreation are inserted.
When the Constitution was written, women had no rights. Females were the first enslaved people, done by their clans, because of their lack of upper body strength to defend themselves and their vulnerability during pregnancy. Anthropological studies have shown that the protection offered women was different, but it usually rested on some form of marriage contract, where the children were recognized as a man’s legitimate heirs. The wife had no rights to them. She was just the vessel that gave them birth. She was his property.
Organized religious institutions perpetuate this perspective since they are authoritarian in structure and controlled by men. Their children are not only taught that “Jesus loves the little children” but they are also groomed to accept that the wife is subservient to the male priesthood holder. An article published in The Salt Lake Tribune recently included a conversation with a female student who had attended BYU. She had intercourse with a male on campus and her reasoning included her religious instruction. She understood her role in the matter was to submit.
For the people of reproductive ages who now have to navigate a world without Roe or Casey, it is helpful for you to understand that the Republican architects of a desired theocracy and the conservative Supreme Court justices who invalidated Roe do not care about you. They are well aware of the harm. In regard to the Supreme Court, the dissenting justices wrote the following: “The majority has overruled Roe and Casey for one and only one reason: because it has always despised them and now it has the votes to discard them.” In regard to the legislators who have methodically orchestrated political districts, which makes it difficult to vote them out, their aim is to force females to give birth.
This time it is not your partner — whom you likely love and trust — who owns your body. This time your body becomes the property of the state.
L. Ingersoll, Pleasant Grove
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