American women are being asked to reward the biggest civil rights policy failure in history by giving a resounding vote to Democrats that allowed an ideological takeover of America’s court system— called by some a “judicial coup d’etat” —which resulted in the reversal of a constitutional guarantee of the right to privacy and freedom to choose an abortion.
As Justice Samuel Alito wrote in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives,” which makes forcing women to give birth a political issue to be decided among the states.
In overruling the previous decisions of 1973’s Roe v. Wade and 1992’s Planned Parenthood of Southeastern PA v. Casey, Dobbs also marks the first time the top judicial panel took away a civil right that was recognized in previous Supreme Court cases.
To be sure, the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs has created a potential backlash but with rapid inflation plus a recession that is being both denied and bungled by administration officials, this could be a major distraction for campaigns that ought to be waged on economic issues the American public is most concerned about.
The Court’s 6-3 decision, effectively changes the landscape of reproductive health care rights throughout the country. About 13 states had so-called “trigger laws” that outlawed abortion automatically while 13 others have new statutes forbidding women from ending an unwanted pregnancy on a fast track to becoming law.
“On the day after the Trump/Bush Supreme Court fulfilled its dystopian destiny by issuing its Handmaid‘s Tale-style ‘forced birth’ decision, hundreds of women and girls who live here packed the street that runs for nearly a mile along Lake Michigan,” said Michael Moore.
“The Revolution has now begun, and come November — Roevember — you’re going to see what it’s like to lose power,” said Moore. “The Republican Party has unwittingly dug its political grave.”
Moore, the documentary filmmaker and left-wing activist who works addressed such topics as globalization and capitalism, and has written eight non-fiction books, mostly on similar subject matter to his documentaries, is brilliant but he is not a political strategist.
Moore’s films include Roger & Me, The Big One, Bowling for Columbine, Fahrenheit 9/11, Sicko, Capitalism: A Love Story, Where to Invade Next, Michael Moore in TrumpLand, and Fahrenheit 11/9.
Wendy Brown is UPS Professor of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study, and she says the fatal dagger in this decision is that it invests power, “with state legislatures and governors, not Congress and the president.”
“This is the move that makes the Dobbs decision more than a gut punch to women’s equality and freedom, more than a triumph for a religious minority, and more than a clarion call about future reactionary decisions to come,” said Brown. “Above all, Dobbs further entrenches states’ rights as a powerful weapon of minority rule in what we sloppily call the ‘culture wars’ today.”