By Karen Rubin, News-Photos-Features.com
March is Women’s History Month, but what year exactly? 1950? 1850? And on International Women’s Day, March 8, how, exactly, does the United States fare versus the rest of the world. Some 28 nations have now had a woman as their head of state – the best we have summoned is Vice President, Speaker of the House, 12 women governors serving at the same time, four Supreme Court justices, and a smattering of women CEOs of major corporations.
Progress? Some might say so, but it’s precisely because of the progress women have made since 1972 - the Roe v Wade decision and gender discrimination legislation that followed - that there is such an aggressive, punitive, violent backlash to strip away the very rights that made progress possible.
As Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said at her 1993 Senate confirmation hearing, “The decision whether or not to bear a child is central to a woman’s life, to her well-being and dignity. … When government controls that decision for her, she is being treated as less than a fully adult human responsible for her own choices.” 1993! We’re fighting that battle all over again.
And the war on women has turned into a hot war – as a federal appeals courtstruck down a 30-year-old lawthat barred people under domestic violence restraining orders from owning guns – putting all Red Flag laws at risk.
This defies the epidemic of gun violence against women and children (gun violence now the leading cause of death among children). In fact, when an abusive partner has access to a gun, a domestic violence victim is five times more likely to be killed. Over half of the killings of American women are related to intimate partner violence. The presence of a gun in a domestic violence situation increases the risk of homicide by 500%.
There is truth to the statement that in the United States, a gun has more rights than a woman. So do rapists and abusers.
The decision also puts truth to the lie that the anti-abortion crusade is “pro-life”– indeed, maternal mortality is expected to increase by 24 percent from the US’s already woefully high levels for a “modern” industrialized country because of the abortion bans triggered by the radical ideologues on the Supreme Court.
Alex Murdaugh wasn’t given the death penalty for shooting to death his wife and son, but some states are making abortion a capital crime and even indicting women who miscarry for homicide. Florida and Texas are proposing to track women’s cell phones to keep them from traveling out of state to seek reproductive care; young athletes must report their menstrual cycle. In Texas, each member of the rapist’s family can sue a woman and her doctors for terminating a pregnancy for statutory damages not less than $20,000; vigilantes are incentivized to individually sue anyone who assists a woman terminate a pregnancy.
One in five pregnancies result in miscarriage and those women need the same procedure to save their lives that technically is “abortion.” But now, even women suffering an ectopic pregnancy, bleeding profusely, or carrying a fetus that is not viable or has actually already died, are forced to be at death’s door before they can receive care. And then their doctors would have to wage an “affirmative defense”– proving they were justified to render medical care – to avoid prosecution that could cost them their professional license, monetary damages, and years, even life in prison. (And who else bets that the prosecution will be targeted at minority and poor women.)
The intimidation pointed at doctors is putting on steroids the tactics that had been in place even before Dobbs overturned a woman’s constitutional right to obtain an abortion before the fetus was viable – putting unrealistic restrictions on clinics and abortion doctors that essentially shuttered them and putting into place other obstacles, like requiring the woman to have two visits, to see a video of the fetus, to undergo unnecessary, invasive probes. Sure you can get an abortion, but not after 6 weeks, even though you may not realize you are pregnant by then. Now they are not just criminalizing medical care, but the women, and incentivizing informants, so the pretense that a woman’s life is taken into consideration is just that, pretense for what is really going on.
“It’s a new form of Jane Crow where women are afraid to discuss their trauma with any relative or friend for fear of being turned in, afraid to go online to find help,” one analyst stated.
And it is remarkable assault considering that pregnancy and childbirth are some of the most dangerous things a woman can do, especially in the United States where mortality rates are higher than any industrialized country and higher even than war-torn countries. A woman in the United States – before Dobbs and the abortion bans that it triggered – was four timesmore likely to die from carrying a baby to term than to have an abortion.
“Our rights are eroding at an alarming and grotesque speed – the forced birth movement landed with a vengeance,” declared Joy Ann Reid on MSNBC. “Draconian laws are designed to punish rape and incest survivors - cruelty so profound that women and girls will suffer untold harm.”
Beyond the substantial and scary risks to health and life, are how the new laws tether a woman to her rapist, her abuser, financially, emotionally, legally – perpetuating the cruelty and control over her.
The Biden Administration has attempted to offer some off-ramps in the face of 24 states passing abortion bans taking away reproductive rights from 30 million women. Biden signed a Presidential Memorandum to safeguard access to reproductive care, including easing access to medication abortion, help ensure women can receive emergency medical care, protect patients' privacy and access to accurate information about their reproductive rights, and combat discrimination in the health care system.
A key element of the Biden administration’s effort was to approve major retail pharmacies such as Walgreens, Rite Aid, and CVS to dispense medication to protect abortion access and reduce maternal mortality. Medication – not surgery – was already the method used in 54 percent of all abortions prior to the Dobbs decision overturning a woman’s reproductive rights.
Now you have an anti-abortion bringing suit against the FDA for having authorized the use ofmifepristone, despite the fact the drug has been used safely (sends fewer people to the ER than Tylenol or Viagra) for 20 years and administered to 5 million women. If the radical rightwing Texas judge rules to rescind the FDA’s approval, mifepristone would not just be banned nationwide - 40 million women would be under that thumb.
And 21 Republican Attorney Generals already have issued letters to the major pharmacies threatening legal action if they dispense the abortion medication. Walgreens has already caved- essentially spitting on Biden’s executive order. (California Governor Gavin Newsom is threatening to cancel state contracts with Walgreens as a consequence of its stance.)
But how on earth does this group even have standing? How can they show they were harmed, versus the 40 million women whose lives are upended by losing bodily autonomy and control over their own health, their future and their family? And how come Big Pharma hasn’t reacted to this brazen attack on its industry? Could you imagine if Viagra were challenged? Each and every one of these retailers that refuses to provide abortion medication should be boycotted.
Actually, in Texas, the first women who have been harmed by the abortion ban are suing, assisted by the Center for Reproductive Rights. The women say they were denied abortions under state law despite risks to themselves and their fetuses that made the procedure a medical necessity. The suit does not seek to overturn the abortion ban, but only clarify when women can obtain medical care. “With no other kind of medical issue do you have to ask, get sicker, and await permission to get care,” said the husband of one of the women, who nearly died before she was given medical care and as a result, suffered permanent scarring to her uterus that will make it harder for her to conceive. “Because of the law, I nearly died. Nothing about this is pro-life,” declared the woman who has been desperate to have a baby.(See: Five Women Sue Texas Over the State’s Abortion Ban)
Think about it: Men and underage gun-wielders like Kyle Rittenhouse who commit but plead ‘Stand your Ground’ get off scott free; criminals like Donald Trump can invoke the Fifth Amendment to avoid incriminating themselves, just about anyone (like serial criminal Trump) can shield themselves from the Long Arm of Justice with all sorts of tricks that put the onus on the Judicial System, but women, doctors and nurses can be sued by vigilantes, their rapist or their rapist’s relatives, unless they can provide an “affirmative defense” proving that the woman was at the brink of death and that’s why the pregnancy was terminated.
The anti-abortion crusade goes well beyond “giving voice to the voiceless” (that is, the batch of pre-human cells that the Constitution does not grant citizenship to until a person is actually born) – as evidenced by their attack on the abortion pill, even contraception, to now prosecuting women for homicide if they have an abortion, or even miscarry. Moreover, the basis underlying abortion bans – fundamentalist Christianity religious dogma – violates other religious beliefs including Judaism, which adhere to a “choose life” principle that prioritizes the mother’s life. (See: Choosing Life Means Fighting for a Woman's Reproductive Rights)
We’re back to “Women’s Day”– like Mother’s Day, a day of feigned appreciation, mock recognition. They’ll dig up some historic figure, usually a black woman except in places like Florida and Texas which have erased black history and put Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth on the persona non grata list - Lawbreakers! Terrorists! - rather than heroes to be admired and emulated for their courage. Certainly not Tubman, whose fame came from denying slaveholders of their property.
It is important to recognize who is on the side of women and who isn’t.
In addition to easing access to medication abortion, Biden signed historic legislation to ensure equal protection for pregnant women and nursing mothers in the workplace; strengthened and reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act and signed the Respect for Marriage Act and defend the rights of LGBTQI+ and interracial couples. The administration released the nation’s first Blueprint for Addressing the Maternal Health Crisis. He established a Gender Policy Council to advance gender equity across the Federal Government and released the nation’s first national gender strategy to promote equal access to education, economic security, health care and freedom from gender-based violence at home and abroad.
“The full participation of women is a foundational tenet of democracy,” President declared in his Proclamation of Women’s History Month. “But despite significant progress, women and girls continue to face systemic barriers to full and equal participation in our economy and society...My Administration will continue to defend reproductive freedom to ensure that all Americans ... have the ability to make the choices that are right for themselves and their families.”
Biden called on Congress to pass a Federal law restoring the protections of Roe v. Wade so all women in every State have the right to choose.
“This month, as we continue our work to advance gender equity and equality, let us celebrate the contributions of women throughout our history and honor the stories that have too often gone untold. Let us recognize that fundamental freedoms are interconnected: when opportunities for women are withheld, we all suffer; and when women's lives are improved, we all gain. Let us strive to create a Nation where every woman and girl knows that her possibilities know no bounds in America.”
Pass the Equal Rights Amendment
The expansion in the war against women and women’s rights shows why it is necessary to pass the Equal Rights Amendment (since the 13th, 14th, 19th amendments clearly haven’t been enough).
Last month, Representative Ayanna Pressley co-led a historic resolution to affirm the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) and finally enshrine gender equality in our Constitution. Then last week, the U.S. Senate held its first ERA hearing in 40 years.
Now, we need to keep up the pressure on Congress to pass Ayanna’s resolution and ensure the Constitution affirms that women are equal in the eyes of the law.
The Equal Rights Amendment would give women in every community across the country an essential tool to combat discrimination and violence — from pay and pregnancy discrimination to sexual and domestic violence.
38 states have ratified the Equal Rights Amendment, but because of an arbitrary deadline established in the 1970s, it hasn’t been added to the Constitution.
Pressley’s resolution would remove the deadline for ratification and pave the way for the ERA to take its rightful place as part of the Constitution.
See also:
Choosing Life Means Fighting for a Woman's Reproductive Rights
Bigger than Roe: Radical Feminism Makes Comeback to Reclaim Reproductive Freedom
__________________________
© 2023 News & Photo Features Syndicate, a division of Workstyles, Inc. All rights reserved. For editorial feature and photo information, go to www.news-photos-features.com, email editor@news-photos-features.com. Blogging at www.dailykos.com/blogs/NewsPhotosFeatures. ‘Like’ us on facebook.com/KarenBRubin, Tweet @KarenBRubin