{"id":6506,"date":"2022-05-12T23:10:31","date_gmt":"2022-05-13T03:10:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tempestmag.org\/v01_2020\/staging\/?p=6506"},"modified":"2022-05-17T23:37:58","modified_gmt":"2022-05-18T03:37:58","slug":"next-steps-to-regain-abortion-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/test02\/2022\/05\/next-steps-to-regain-abortion-rights\/","title":{"rendered":"Next steps to regain abortion rights"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo by Keegan O’Brien.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

L<\/span>ess than two weeks ago, in an unprecedented leaked draft of a Supreme Court opinion\u2014in Dobbs v. Jackson Mississippi Women\u2019s Health Organization<\/em>\u2014appeared the press<\/a>. Drafts can change, but the language leaves no doubt that the ultra-conservative majority intends to overturn the landmark 1973 ruling in Roe v. Wade<\/em>. The ruling would make abortion illegal in at least 26 states, which includes 13 states that have trigger laws designed to go into effect if Roe<\/em> falls. This is a devastating blow that would return abortion from a federally protected right into a state\u2019s rights issue, with the gravest consequences for poor and working-class women, trans, queer, and nonbinary people who can become pregnant, and people of color, who will be disproportionately unable to bear the time and cost of traveling out of state to obtain abortions, or will be forced to do so illegally.<\/p>\n

For the Democrats, this is a godsend. They have failed to deliver on most of Biden\u2019s agenda, but they will try to milk their unearned reputation as the \u201cpro-choice\u201d party for everything it\u2019s worth to galvanize their base ahead of the midterms\u2014a strategy that still might not be enough to prevent a Republican takeover. This week, Democrats staged a last-ditch effort to enshrine abortion protections into law ahead of the Supreme Court\u2019s finalized decision, knowing that the bill would fail in the Senate, which it did<\/a>. Yet, even when Democrats have previously had the votes to protect these rights, they have always found ways to shoot themselves in the foot (as in 2009, when Obama and Democratic majorities failed to enact<\/a> any of their promised protections for abortion and battled anti-abortion Democrats<\/a> in their own party in 2010, ultimately leaving the Hyde Amendment that bans federal funding for abortion intact under the Affordable Care Act).<\/p>\n

Thankfully, as the protests we\u2019re beginning to see attest, a significant number of people are horrified and outraged by the leaked draft and have concluded that mass mobilization in the streets is necessary to defend Roe<\/em>. Over the last week, the emergency protests<\/a>\u2014many of which were called on short notice\u2014have been large in many cities, although not massive\u2014with several thousand showing up in Chicago, New York, and even Houston, Texas<\/a> (one of the ground-zeros of this fight).<\/p>\n

It is significant that we are seeing the first large-scale protests of the Biden presidency. There is already a flurry of activity among activists and greater numbers of people turning out to organizing calls and demonstrations as compared to the last few years or even the last few months, which suggests a new sense of urgency. The threat of a right-wing Supreme Court overturning Roe <\/em>is something liberals have warned about for decades to rally Democratic voters, and large liberal organizations like the Women\u2019s March and Planned Parenthood have called a National Day of Action for May 14<\/a>, which has the potential to be very large, given the pull these organizations have, but also because of the stakes of this fight. The moment we all knew was coming is finally here.<\/p>\n

Understanding our history for the future of the movement<\/h4>\n

A key task for the revolutionary Left is explaining how we got to this moment, where the Right is finally poised to deliver on its promise to overturn Roe<\/em>. How is it that, at a moment when 69 percent of people in the U.S. support Roe<\/a>, that the court felt it could proceed, anyway?<\/p>\n

First and foremost, this exposes how little democracy exists in the U.S., where nine unelected, lifetime appointees interpreting a slavery-era constitution get to determine the fate of the entire country. The U.S. has never been a genuine democracy, and its institutions have always been structured to protect the interests of propertied white men. But that doesn\u2019t mean the law has ever been immune to social pressure\u2014as when Roe was won in the first place<\/a> (a decision that was written by a Nixon appointee!) in the context of a mass women\u2019s liberation movement.<\/p>\n

Today, the dominant explanation on offer about why Roe<\/em> is under attack centers primarily on the Republicans\u2019 capture of the Supreme Court and the party\u2019s decades-long legislative strategy at the state level of whittling away at access to reproductive rights. The impact has been that abortion had already been rendered all but inaccessible in large swaths of the country well prior to the court\u2019s pending ruling. There is no doubt that the GOP and its increasingly far-right arm is pursuing an agenda that is openly anti-worker, anti-woman, transphobic, xenophobic and racist\u2014all issues that converge in the fight to end legal<\/em> abortion.<\/p>\n

The result of overturning Roe will not be to end abortions, but safe and accessible abortions. While abortion pills<\/a> have been a gamechanger, and abortion itself is a relatively safe procedure\u2014far safer than childbirth\u2014laws like Texas\u2019 SB8<\/a> (which empowers private citizens to sue people seeking abortions and anyone who assists them in doing so) and Louisiana\u2019s HB813<\/a> (which would allow prosecutors to charge people who obtain abortions with murder) are designed to criminalize people for accessing these safer means of terminating an unwanted pregnancy. This will further empower anti-abortion vigilantes, the police, and the state as a whole to target already oppressed populations. While it\u2019s extremely important that people continue to donate to abortion funds<\/a> and share information about abortion pills<\/a>, this alone is not nearly enough to defend abortion rights in the context of a state crackdown. Having an abortion\u2014medical or surgical\u2014in more than two dozen states, could very well mean needing to break the law. And the fear of being targeted and punished will drive people to seek less safe options when they want to end an unwanted pregnancy. A recent study<\/a> estimates that a ban on abortion could lead to a 21 percent increase in pregnancy-related deaths. And lack of access to abortion always impacts Black, poor, and working-class people the most. In this context, how we build forces willing and able to take on the far right and respond to the crackdown will be crucial for whether people feel safe to access care or not.<\/p>\n