With Liberty and Justice?

 

"Strong Families Make Strong Nations." "Reclaim America."

If you don't see the connection between the assault on reproductive rights and ethno-nationalism, you're not paying attention. pic.twitter.com/SUZrAfj5Nz

— Melissa Murray (@ProfMMurray) July 3, 2022

I have no doubt that the Patriot Front fools who made an appearance in Boston may very well appear here in Philadelphia--after all, they like to travel and U-Hauls and Penske trucks are affordable and they were ever so warmly welcomed here last year.  Whether they are received as a threat or have their asses kicked in, the point of these shows of "presence" of the business casual klan variety are about letting you know they exist. They might cover their faces because some employers might balk at the fascism, but by appearing, they intend to normalize this kind of display of street corner thuggery. 

This year, uterus-having people lost a basic right of bodily self-autonomy. This is one way of saying AFAB people were informed by unelected ivory tower assholes that the state can decide whether they can terminate a pregnancy or not, for whatever reason. The Supreme Court did, by way of ontological terrorism, what doctor-murderers and clinic bombers could not, without a single mind of the US populace being changed to think the less of the medical procedure. They assumed a right that a fetus has over an already-born person, an absurdity and a societal disaster. 

They did more damage, in smaller numbers, and made their presence more intrusively felt, than street thugs ever could. 

We are being told that there is a generation prepared for this new territory. They aren't a majority, and they are brainwashed and without life experiences to know yet about the uncertainty of the "natural" process by which humans come into this world. I could say to the hypothetical pro-life youth: you come back to me with an essay about ectopic pregnancies, placenta previa, hydrocephaly, etc., and tell me why a brave little AFAB has to go down like a captain of the pregnancy ship, and then, I will take your prepared remarks and show you where they might figuratively be anatomically stowed. And that would be my mildest response if, after researching the multiple horrors that could befall a pregnant person, such a wretch would without compassion still shill for their imaginary fetus friend. 

We are also told that the left (the WOKE) have alienated people in the discourse by elbowing aside the women and girls in favor of inclusive terms for people affected by abortions bans, such as "pregnant people". This is a peculiar thing to dwell on. I'm AFAB, but I know the term "pregnant people" excludes me, because I have not been, am not now, and am unlikely to become pregnant, while I also know of  trans men and non-binary people who have given birth, something I've never troubled my uterus with. I'm fine with including others who also count, and don't feel counted out--this is because I am a whole ass adult and don't require things to only be about me to deal with them,

We are told also that abortion rights activists could have tried a different and more respectable tact when telling their stories, when petitioning to keep our bodily autonomy, when trying to explain the cost to human lives the loss of this right would mean to so many and maybe behaving differently would have spared us this decision. As if. The people who silently looked at their shoes but smiled when clinic patients were harassed, when clinic personnel had their homes picketed, when death threats were made against health care professionals, when doctors were gunned down, should genuinely never pretend they weren't satisfied with any aggression against people seeking this care. 

Where our black-robed rights-deniers and the business casual klan intersect is the new bullying/finking regime concocted by people who doubtless would have strong feeling about self-determination re: vaccinations or masking in a different context. The post-Roe fear was pro-choice rage--but we saw the opposite. The Proud Boys have been associating themselves with anti-choice protests for some while. And I think the reason why is in part the relationship with replacement theory, and because it's another fracture point that, like race relations, can fuck this country up along religious lines, gender lines, etc. 

They are spoiling for some cataclysm. A second Civil War or another Revolution. (More or less another 1/6 level opportunity for fuck-upery.)

People capable of being pregnant are being told they can not use certain drugs for their existing conditions, even if they are not currently pregnant or likely to be. They are threatened with the possibility that their travel might be curtailed. That their bodily functions will be monitored, that if they mention they have been sexually assaulted, they will be treated as a likely suspect in a pregnancy-related crime. Our internet searches will be checked for exposure to forbidden information on how to obtain an abortion. Should AFAB people be held in some kind of purdah? 

A curtailment of any of our rights threatens a cascade of prohibitions. The thugs be damned, this is a new cry for liberty for our bodies, and justice over those who would abrogate our rights. Should we be intimidated by the mandates of anti-freedom spectres, whether clad in khaki or black? No. The biological reality of what can occur when our self-determination is denied is too great. We will not go back to the back alley. LGBT people will not go back to the closet. This country will not go back to the dark ages and become a theocracy. 

We will not go back.